Shareholders of the Herald Investment Trust have voted against proposals made by activist investor Saba Capital at the investment company’s requisitioned general meeting earlier today.
The American hedge fund, managed by Boaz Weinstein, had put forward measures to remove the trust’s board and replace it with two of its own: Jassen Trenkow, a former Wall Street banking executive, and Paul Kazarian, principal executive officer of Saba’s publicly traded investment trusts.
If appointed, the firm proposed removing the incumbent fund manager – Katie Potts – and replacing her with Saba Capital. It also offered shareholders a 100% cash exit after one year. The mandate of the £1.1bn trust would also have changed from its current global smaller companies remit to one that invested in undervalued investment trusts.
Of the eight proposals made – six involving the removal of a current board member and two to add the individuals named above – around 65.1% voted against Saba Capital.
This represented 99.78% of all votes cast by non-Saba shareholders, according to Andrew Joy, chairman of Herald Investment Trust.
“Today non-Saba shareholders have almost unanimously rejected Saba's self-interested proposals,” he said.
Shareholder votes were a “complete and incontrovertible rebuttal of Saba's attempt to take control of your company and change its strategy against the wishes and interests of its non-Saba shareholders,” Joy continued.
“The reason shareholders invested, and continue to invest, in Herald is for long-term capital appreciation through investing in smaller technology companies, and they do not wish to be deprived of the opportunity to enjoy more of the same. They did not invest in Herald to become part of a short-term trading strategy.”
Saba currently has the same proposals open against six other investment trusts with general meetings next month: Baillie Gifford’s Edinburgh Worldwide, Keystone Positive Change and Baillie Gifford US Growth; Janus Henderson’s European Smaller Companies and Henderson Opportunities; and CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income.
A spokesperson for Saba Capital said: "We appreciate the thoughtful engagement from fellow Herald shareholders in recent weeks, which only reinforces the dire state of the UK investment trust industry and need for Saba’s presence in the market. Over a brief period, our campaign has already enhanced value for shareholders and incited positive change at Herald – and elsewhere in the UK market – as evidenced by discounts to net asset value narrowing and numerous trusts announcing shareholder-friendly actions."