Saba boss says investment trust coup will revitalise UK market
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The hedge fund behind a planned takeover of seven London-listed investment trusts has revealed plans for a new strategy it claims will help revitalise the entire sector. Saba Capital is attempting to overhaul the boards of seven trusts it has built substantial stakes in and impose itself as investment manager.
![[Saba will take its proposals to shareholders in a series of crunch votes]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/14/15/93909637-14283835-image-a-39_1736867498730.jpg)
The firm's chief executive Boaz Weinstein told investors on Tuesday that, should investors back its plans in a series of crunch votes, Saba will merge all or some of the seven funds into a new London-listed vehicle. The fund would buy up stakes in other investment trusts sitting on hefty discounts to net asset value.
Should the merged vehicle encompass all seven trusts, it would have an estimated net asset value of £3.9billion, with just 16.5 per cent invested in UK assets at inception. Saba says it will aim to grow this proportion to 100 per cent of the trust's portfolio.
Saba Capital chief executive Boaz Weinstein said the group's intervention will boost the wider UK investment trust market. Weinstein told investors on Tuesday: 'If we're given the opportunity, [we will launch] this Saba product that I think the UK sorely needs, given how every [financial] institution has been a seller [of UK assets].
'The fund will benefit from scale…[and] we're going to put that money back into the UK. We are the white knight of the UK market. Everyone is a seller. We're a buyer. 'This is enormous amount of ammunition for us to buy all the beleaguered funds and help them go up in price.'.
