Shareholders come out in force to vote on Saba proposals

Retail shareholders have come out in force to have their say on the proposals put forward by hedge fund Saba Capital to shake up seven investment trusts.  

At the start of this year Saba announced shakeup plans for seven investment trusts it had built up positions in, putting forward two resolutions for customers to vote on: removing the current directors and appointing new directors of Saba’s choice.  

Data from AJ Bell shows that its easy-to-use online voting system has helped shareholders to vote, with up to 78% of votes exercised among AJ Bell customers. Turnout across all the votes has been high, with a minimum of 60% of shares voted on in each trust by the voting deadline*. 

These voting figures show that shareholder democracy is alive and well, and when important matters are on the line, investors are willing to come out to vote. It’s very straightforward for AJ Bell customers to have their say and they can cast their votes online with a minimum of fuss. At AJ Bell we emailed all investors in the seven trusts holding Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs), alerting them to the forthcoming vote and providing them with clear information on what was happening and how they could have their say. 

This is an extremely high turnout for a shareholder vote and reflects the importance of the proposals being put forward, and the ease with which platform investors can exercise their voting rights, even if they hold shares in a SIPP or ISA to shelter their returns from tax. We shouldn’t expect all shareholder votes to have the same turnout because few are as significant as the proposals put forward by Saba.  

We don’t as yet know what the outcome of the votes will be, but those will be disclosed by the trusts in due course. Whatever the outcome, Saba’s intervention in the investment trust sector has clearly raised questions about how persistent discounts can be addressed. There had been some scepticism expressed at whether retail shareholders would exercise their voting rights, but it’s now clear that huge swathes of them have defied the doubters. 

Source: AJ Bell

*Voting remains open in Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust PLC.