Linus Uhlig, Investment Week, 4 February 2025:
Henderson Opportunities (HOT) and CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income trusts have sided with their current, respective boards against the attempts by US activist hedge fund Saba Capital to replace them with its own nominees and upend the companies.
In the fourth and fifth votes of the ‘Saba seven’ today (4 February), the US group saw 65.36% of the total votes cast against the resolutions in the HOT meeting, while CQS saw a 68% turnout, with over 59% of votes cast against Saba’s requisitioned resolutions.
Excluding the votes cast by Saba in favour of the resolutions, just 0.98% of HOT shareholders who turned out voted with the activist hedge fund, representing 0.72% of the company’s total voting rights.
James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, said: “Saba still has sufficient votes to disrupt the company’s plans but it would be nonsensical of it to do so.
“Given the consistent pattern of rejecting Saba’s proposals, it would perhaps be a better idea if it simply withdrew the remaining requisitions.”
Carthew also questioned whether Saba has begun to exit its position in HOT due to its stakeaccounting for 24.7% of the total voting rights, despite its latest publicly disclosed stake reaching almost five percentage points higher than this.
“This is the second time that Saba seems to have voted fewer shares than expected. I am starting to wonder if it had already started selling them before the meeting in expectation that it was going to lose,” said Carthew.
Read more here