Shareholders in VH Global Energy Infrastructure (ENRG) have given their near unanimous support to put the £409m portfolio into a three-year run-off.

At an extraordinary general meeting today 94.5% of votes were in favour of changing the investment objective to one of getting the best returns for shareholders through the orderly sale of its assets. More than two thirds of shareholders voted with turnout of 68%.

A similar number approved removing the requirement for a continuation vote next year and every subsequent five years as no longer relevant.

After consulting shareholders, the company proposed in May that it should go into a managed wind-down given the chronically wide gap, or discount, between the share price and the investment trust’s net asset value (NAV) that opened up in the past three years as interest rates and inflation rose.

Its 36 assets in Europe, Texas and South America will be sold by the fund manager Victory Hill Capital Advisors in a period up to 2028, with money returned to shareholders. If the investments are sold at or close to asset value, it could salvage returns for shareholders given the shares still stand 31% below NAV, giving the company a market value of £275m.

The shares rose 1.5% to 70.4p, around 30% below the 100p at which they floated in February 2021.