Saba Capital suffered a further setback in its bid to shake up the UK investment trust industry, after it lost votes on the future of both Keystone Positive Change and Baillie Gifford US Growth trust.
The meetings, which saw shareholders vote on Saba’s proposals to replace the current boards with their own nominees, both saw investors back the incumbent leadership.
Over 60% of votes cast in each meeting were against Saba’s proposals. 98.5% of Baillie Gifford US Growth’s non-Saba shares voted against the resolutions, while just 0.8% of Keystone’s non-Saba shares backed the US hedge fund’s proposals.
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The result follows on from a similar vote at Herald Investment Trust on 22 January, at which investors also backed the existing board.
CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income and Henderson Opportunities Trust will hold their own general meetings on Saba tomorrow, before the European Smaller Companies Trust meets on 5 February.
Edinburgh Worldwide shareholders will vote on 14 February.
As with Herald, shareholder engagement was high with 78.4% of total voting rights being used at the Baillie Gifford US Growth trust meeting.
Richard Stone, chief executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), said: “It’s encouraging to see so many shareholders of Baillie Gifford US Growth and Keystone Positive Change come out and vote on this critical issue.
“The impressive turnout of retail investors demonstrates what can be achieved when shareholders are informed, enabled and motivated to have a say on their trust. Our campaign ‘My share, my vote’ aims to change the Companies Act so everyone receives information on their company and can vote.”