New conditional tender for Aberdeen New India – The board of Aberdeen New India Investment Trust intends to introduce a five-yearly performance-related conditional tender offer.
The board is concerned about the relative underperformance of the NAV over shorter term time periods compared to its benchmark, the MSCI India Index. Following discussions with the investment manager, the board has decided that, should the adjusted NAV total return underperform the benchmark over a five-year assessment period, then shareholders will be offered the opportunity to realise a proportion of their investment for cash at a level close to NAV. The five-yearly period has been chosen as this best corresponds with the manager’s typical investment time horizon.
In order to align the continuation vote with the assessment period, the board proposes to move from the current cycle of annual continuation votes to five-yearly continuation votes. Whilst there is no formal requirement for shareholders to vote on the introduction of the five-yearly conditional tender offer, shareholders’ approval is required to amend the articles of association in order to replace the annual continuation vote with a continuation vote at least every five years and, accordingly a resolution will be put to shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting expected in September 2022.
The proposals are subject to the passing of the annual continuation vote and the resolution in connection with the change to the articles of association at the forthcoming AGM in September 2022. In addition, any conditional tender offer will be subject to the passing of the five-yearly continuation vote.
The introduction of this conditional tender offer will not affect the board’s current approach to discount management. The board will continue to exercise its right to buy back shares when it believes this to be in shareholders’ interests with the aim of reducing volatility in the discount to NAV at which the shares trade.
ANII : New conditional tender for Aberdeen New India