Linus Uhlig, Investment Week, 22 January 2025:
Shareholders of Herald investment trust (HRI) have voted heavily against Saba Capital’s eight proposed resolutions at the first of seven requisitioned general meetings to vote on the changes put forward by the US activist hedge fund.
Over two thirds (65.1)% of the total votes were cast against the requisitioned resolutions. The votes against totalled more than 26.4 million and represented a majority of the company’s total voting rights, according to a London Stock Exchange notice.
Almost all non-Saba shareholders (99.78%) voted against Saba’s proposals, representing a “clear, complete and incontrovertible rebuttal” of Saba’s resolutions, according to Andrew Joy, chair of HRI.
Excluding the votes Saba cast in favour of their own changes, worth 14.1 million votes, representing approximately 34.75% of the votes cast, just a further 59,221 shares, representing just 0.15% of the votes cast, were in favour of Saba’s resolutions, a “damning indictment” according to HRI..
Despite claims from Saba that they intended to attend the meetings in London and Edinburgh, when offered the chance to declare their attendance, no one stepped forward..
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said at the time: “The basic message from Herald’s board here – that an exit at a 1% discount to today’s NAV is not and could not realistically ever be on the table – is a straightforward one and cannot be argued with.”
Even more concerning, according to Carthew, was “the tortured logic in Saba’s statement in which it claims to know what an independent board would do at some point in the future, clearly implying that it believes that it can direct the board’s actions”.
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