Independent voting adviser ISS has urged shareholders in Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust to vote against all of its pursuer Saba Capital Management’s resolutions at the general meeting on 20 January.
New York based Saba, which owns just under 30% of EWIT, has called for the Baillie Gifford managed trust to replace its entire board and replace them with three of its own US-based nominees.
EWIT chair Jonathan Simpson-Dent said: “For a second time within a year, independent voting adviser ISS has recommended that shareholders vote against all of Saba’s resolutions.
“Shareholders should not be swayed by Saba misrepresenting the facts, ignoring the significant progress made following the implementation of the path for growth strategy and remaining silent on their ultimate objectives.
“If shareholders want to prevent this US hedge fund from taking control of the company on the cheap, it is critical that they vote against all of Saba’s resolutions before the opportunity for doing so closes for many next week.
“We strongly encourage shareholders not to be complacent and remind everyone that Saba holds a larger shareholding and therefore more voting power this time. Shareholders must turn out in force in order to prevent Saba from taking control.”
EWIT is offering shareholders the chance to question Mr Simpson-Dent about Saba’s proposed resolutions at Q&A session on Friday.
Its statement coincided with an open letter from Saba, in which the US activist investor run by Boaz Weinstein once again requested the trust explain its “suspiciously timed” decision to slash its stake in Elon Musk’s Space X.
Saba said: “We are writing to request that you provide the company’s shareholders, as a matter of urgency, with full transparency regarding (1) your knowledge of Baillie Gifford’s decision to materially reduce EWI’s stake in SpaceX and (2) any connection between this sale and your decision to pursue a merger with the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust.
“As the largest shareholder in the company, we are deeply concerned at the recent sell-down by Baillie Gifford of the company’s stake in SpaceX – the crown jewel of the company’s portfolio – just two months prior to SpaceX’s scheduled revaluation, in a move that appears to defy commercial logic.
“We are particularly concerned that this sale was instead motivated by a desire on the part of both Baillie Gifford and you, the board, to facilitate a merger of the company with USA.”
Saba has been very vocal about its disappointment with the EWIT share price. It has said in the past that the company has “consistently underperformed” across the one-, three-, and five-year periods and that its buyback activity over the past three years has fallen below the average for UK investment trusts executing buybacks over the same period.
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