Troubled German builder Philipp Holzmann AG faced the prospect of more management upheaval yesterday as its largest shareholder pledged to back a motion to sack its supervisory board chief.

Mr Andre Leysen, chairman of Belgian holding company Gevaert, which owns 30 per cent of Holzmann, voiced doubts about explanations given by Holzmann officials for the 2.4 billion marks of losses that drove it to the brink of insolvency in November.

He said he would support a motion to be brought by DSW, a German shareholder protection lobby, to remove Mr Carl von Boehm-Bezing as head of Holzmann's supervisory board at a shareholder meeting set for February or March.

Mr Boehm-Bezing, a management board member of Deutsche Bank AG, has come under fire for failing to spot the losses earlier. Deutsche is Holzmann's largest creditor, owns a 15 per cent stake in the group and has close business ties with it.

Holzmann's near-collapse has already claimed the jobs of chief executive Mr Heinrich Binder and chief financial officer Mr Rainer Klee.

The builder was rescued by creditor banks in a controversial DM4.3 billion bailout backed by a pledge of DM250 million in state aid that raised doubts about Germany's commitment to the free market.

Mr Leysen said in a statement that capital measures approved at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Thursday gave Holzmann a financial basis for survival.

"But the past has yet to be overcome. The explanations given at the meeting do not fully correspond with what has been stated in the past and also do not fully correspond with documentation," Mr Leysen said.

"It still remains unresolved when the disclosed losses should have been recognised or indeed were recognised."

Mr Leysen's stance looks set to intensify a dispute about when the losses, which stemmed mainly from old construction projects, were detected. Deutsche Bank declined to comment yesterday.

Mr Boehm-Bezing had on Thursday rejected calls for his resignation at a Holzmann shareholder meeting and said he was "deeply shaken" by the discovery of the losses.

He was adamant he had not breached his duties and learned of the full extent of losses only in November, shortly before the company made them public.

Holzmann's sudden announcement that it was in trouble angered shareholders because the statement came only months after company officials declared the company was doing well. Mr Leysen said he would have no problems with Deutsche Bank, set to become Holzmann's largest shareholder following the capital measures, appointing a successor to Mr Boehm-Bezing.

Asked if he had a problem more with Mr Boehm-Bezing rather than Deutsche Bank as such, Leysen said: "That is the case."