This is an exclusive interview with Glen Suarez, chair of Impax Environmental Markets (IEM), to discuss the urgent situation facing shareholders as the investment trust seeks to avoid being taken over by Saba Capital, the activist hedge fund holding 22% of the shares.
The main purpose of the interview was to highlight tomorrow’s deadline of Friday 10 April for many shareholders to tell their investment platforms if they want to vote for the exit tender offer proposed by the board and if they want to sell their shares into it.
An extraordinary general meeting will be held on 16 April.
In the interview, Suarez explains:
- Why the IEM board is urging shareholders to vote for the tender offer;
- The risks if Saba gains control;
- How the board resisted Saba’s push for it to merge with another investment company where it was a leading shareholder;
- Why he and the other board directors are selling their shares in the tender;
- What could happen to the company after the vote;
- His concern that the Financial Conduct Authority is not doing enough to prevent a group of uninformed shareholders from becoming stuck in a fund whose investment strategy may change if Saba succeeds;
- His deep disappointment that the company is being prevented from doing its job at a time when its investment strategy could benefit from the boost to renewable energy as result of the war in the Middle East.
