Herald Investment Trust wins Saba Capital vote in ‘victory for shareholder democracy’

Shareholders have rejected Saba Capital’s plans to take control of the Herald Investment Trust in what is being called a ‘victory for shareholder democracy’.

Saba Capital suffered a resounding defeat, which bodes well for six other investment trusts against which the US hedge fund has launched attacks.

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Of the total votes cast, 65.10% voted against the requisitioned resolutions to remove Herald’s board and replace them with one selected by Saba Capital.

Highlighting the scale of the rejection of Saba’s plans, only 0.15% of votes from shareholders other than Saba voted in favour of the resolutions. Saba Capital has a 34.75% stake in the Herald Investment Trust.

“Today non-Saba shareholders have almost unanimously rejected Saba’s self-interested proposals,” said Andrew Joy, Chairman of Herald Investment Trust.

The fact that 99.78% of all votes cast by non-Saba shareholders were voted against Saba’s resolutions and in favour of the existing Board provides a clear, 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.”

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The scale of the defeat raises the question of whether Saba Capital will call off votes they now seem very unlikely to win.

The remaining trusts subject to requisitioned resolutions are Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust, CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income, Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, Henderson Opportunities Trust, Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust and the European Smaller Companies Trust.

Votes for each trust are scheduled over the coming weeks, and shareholders still have time to cast their votes in some of them.

The UK Investor Magazine was recently joined by Karen Brade, Chair of the Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, to discuss the importance of retail investors voting against Saba’s proposals. Today’s results demonstrate the power retail investors have in shaping the future of their investments.

“It’s very encouraging to see Herald shareholders turn out to vote in such numbers,” said Richard Stone, Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies.

“This is a victory for shareholder democracy. There are six other trusts with votes just around the corner. It’s vital that all shareholders vote on the future of their investment trust. Shareholders need to act now.”

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