Herald urges investors to oppose Saba's 'opportunistic' coup plans
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Herald Investment Trust is urging shareholders to reject Saba Capital's 'opportunistic' attempt to gain control of the company. Saba wrote a bombshell open letter last month targeting the investors of seven London-listed investment trusts, including Herald, urging them to remove their boards, and revamp their investment managers and mandates.
The New York-headquartered hedge fund is now the biggest shareholder in all the trusts, with stakes of between 19 per cent and 29 per cent, having built up large positions throughout last year. The other affected trusts are Baillie Gifford US Growth, CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income, Edinburgh Worldwide, European Smaller Companies, Henderson Opportunities, and Keystone Positive Change.
Boaz Weinstein, founder and chief executive of Saba, lashed out at the trusts' relative underperformance, 'disengaged' management and a 'persistent' discount to their net asset value (NAV). Saba has subsequently requisitioned a general meeting for all seven trusts, where investors can decide whether to expel all current directors and appoint 'new, highly qualified' candidates as their replacements.
Turning down: Herald Investment Trust is urging shareholders to reject hedge fund Saba Capital's 'opportunistic' attempt to gain control of the company. It wants Paul Kazarian, principal executive officer of Saba's publicly traded investment trusts, and former finance and banking executive Jassen Trenkow to join Herald's board.
