Discussion of Saba Capital Attack on Seven Investment Trusts and Implications for Shareholders

Date: 24th January 2025
Time: 1pm
Format: Webinar

 

Webinar Description: US hedge fund Saba Capital has recently requisitioned general meetings at seven investment trusts: Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA); Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI); Keystone Positive Change (KPC); Henderson Opportunities Trust (HOT); European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT); CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income (CNY); and Herald Investment Trust (HRI).

Unless other shareholders vote at these general meetings, Saba’s resolutions will pass, enabling Saba to take control of these trusts.

In this webinar an expert panel will discuss the implications of this action by Saba and issues concerning shareholder democracy. There will also be a short presentation regarding the rights of shareholders who hold their shares through brokers or investment platforms and how such shareholders can exercise their votes.

Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions about any of these matters.

Panel Members:

Baroness Ros Altmann, Member of the House of Lords

Baroness Ros Altmann is an award-winning expert on later life issues, including pensions, long-term investment, finance, retail savings, retirement planning and elderly care policy. She is an academic economist by training and was an institutional asset manager for many years, heading international pension investing for Chase and Rothschilds in London, before starting her own consultancy advising financial firms, pension funds, corporates, governments and policymakers on pensions, investment and later life policies. She is consumer advocate as well as understanding the needs of financial firms.

Ros now sits in the House of Lords and is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, Emeritus Governor of the LSE, a Governor of the Pensions Policy Institute and an adviser to the International Longevity Centre. She is a Board Adviser to NatWest Cushon and a Non-Executive Director of Capital Pension Solutions.

 

James Carthew, Head of Investment Company Research & Founder, Marten &Co

Founder and Head of Investment Company Research – James started his career at M&G in 1984 where he wrote research on a wide variety of UK companies and managed a number of UK equity funds as well as M&G’s Fund of Investment Trusts. From 2001-2010 he managed Advance UK Trust PLC, a global fund of funds that promoted good corporate governance within the closed-end fund industry. James is a non-executive director of several companies. He writes articles on the closed-end fund industry for various publications, including a regular column in Citywire, and sits on the judging panel for the Investment Company of the Year Awards. James also sits on the Marten & Co board.

 

 

 

Richard Stone, CEO, The Association of Investment Companies

Richard Stone is the Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies, having joined in September 2021. Prior to that, Richard was Chief Executive of Share plc (The Share Centre platform) from 2014 to 2020 and was Finance Director from 2006 to 2013. At Share plc he positioned the company to deliver exceptional customer service, including digital transformation, for both direct retail clients and other partner investment firms. Richard is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant.

 

 

 

Additional Panel Members to be Announced

Event Host:

Mark NorthwayMark Northway, ShareSoc Director and Chair of ShareSoc’s Policy Committee

Mark will host this webinar and chair the panel discussion.

Mark is an experienced practitioner in financial markets with wide ranging managerial and governance experience across credit, fixed income, equity and treasury markets, and associated cash and derivative instruments. His experience spans multiple disciplines including marketing, trading, investment and the management of complex financial and regulatory risk within a variety of vehicles and legal structures.

Mark chaired ShareSoc from April 2016 to December 2021.

 

 

Presenter:

Mark Bentley, ShareSoc Director and Member of ShareSoc’s Policy Committee

Mark has been a director of ShareSoc since 2011. He has been a full-time stock market investor since 2004, having pursued investment as a rewarding hobby for 20 years previously. Most of Mark’s career was spent in the I.T. industry beginning with Logica in 1980, where he worked on the Giotto Halley’s Comet intercept mission for the European Space Agency amongst other projects. In 1987 Mark started his own IT services business, Anvil Technology Ltd, which he ran successfully for 14 years. He is an active investor, attending many company meetings each year and publishes his findings on a number of investment orientated web sites.

 

 

Mark will deliver a short presentation explaining how the disenfranchisement of individual shareholders has facilitated Saba’s actions. He will also outline progress made by ShareSoc’s shareholder rights campaign in seeking legislative change to address this loophole in the UK Companies Act.

 

Registration

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Event Details:
  • Event: Discussion of Saba Capital Attack on Seven Investment Trusts and Implications for Shareholders
  • Date: 24/01/2025
  • Time: Webinar Starts at 1pm
  • Location: Webinar
Add to calendar
Event Details:
  • Event Discussion of Saba Capital Attack on Seven Investment Trusts and Implications for Shareholders
  • Date 24/01/2025
  • Time Webinar Starts at 1pm
  • Location Webinar
  • Description In this webinar an expert panel will discuss the implications of the action taken by Saba and issues concerning shareholder democracy. There will also be a short presentation regarding the rights of shareholders who hold their shares through brokers or investment platforms and how such shareholders can exercise their votes.