Spain's Colonial mulls suing former board-source

BARCELONA, June 30 (Reuters) - Shareholders of Spain's Colonial (COL.MC) backed a board proposal on Tuesday to study suing former board members over acquisitions made by the property company that have left it with billions of euros of debt, a source close to the company said. Current chairman Juan Jose Bruguera told the company's annual shareholders meeting that the board would analyse acquisitions carried out from 2006 under the direction of then chairman Luis Portillo, to determine if legal proceedings can be brought.

The motion was backed by 85 percent of votes, said the source, who asked not to be named.

"It is fundamentally over the purchase of Riofisa," the source said, referring to Colonial's acquisition of the shopping centre developer for 2 billion euros in early 2007.

It is now trying to sell the subsidiary -- one of the conditions of its refinancing agreement with a syndicate of banks which are owed the vast majority of the company's 6.57 billion euros of debt.

That figure published in March is 10.5 percent less than in December after it sold assets. (Reporting by Ben Harding; editing by Simon Jessop)