De La Rue, the London-listed banknote printer, is facing demands for a board seat from one of its biggest investors amid discontent at its poor performance.

Sky News has learnt that Crystal Amber, the fund manager that owns 10% of De La Rue, wrote to chairman Kevin Loosemore during the summer to inform him that it was seeking boardroom representation.

It was unclear on Thursday whether Mr Loosemore had formally responded to the request from Crystal Amber.

The fund manager and De La Rue have had a fractious relationship for much of the past four years, when it began acquiring a stake in the company.

Since then, Crystal Amber has repeatedly criticised executive pay practices at De La Rue and called for it to initiate a strategic review that could lead to a sale or break-up.

The company has seen persistent discontent from shareholders after seeing its value slide over the past decade.

In May, it issued a profit warning – its second this year alone – citing rising costs.

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Richard Bernstein, chief executive of Crystal Amber, said earlier this year that “management alignment is absent at De La Rue”.

He accused the De La Rue board of failing to benchmark chief executive Clive Vacher’s pay against returns to shareholders.

On Thursday, shares in the banknote printer closed at 81.9p, down more than 55% over the past year.

De La Rue declined to comment.

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