Ian McConnell: Move which has rocked key Scottish sector has been talk of town The move which has been the key Scottish sector has been like nothing seen before
Having covered the investment trust sector for decades, it was probably natural before Boaz Weinstein’s arrival on the scene to feel I had seen pretty much all forms of corporate activity and shorter-term arbitrage.
There has been no end of activist investors who have targeted investment trusts, with many Scottish funds the target of their attentions.
Oftentimes, particularly going quite far back, they bought into a trust, agitated for change, and then sold out at a narrower discount than that at which they had bought in, making a quick profit.
There were some big rollovers into new funds - with Gartmore’s Scottish National Trust one of the big ones in the 1990s when this investment trust was managed from Glasgow by Diane Wilde.
We have had bids, most of them hostile, with a white knight sometimes emerging.
Scotland’s self-managed trusts, including Scottish Investment Trust and Alliance Trust, found themselves particular sources of attraction for activist investors. Scottish Investment Trust, which had long been run from Edinburgh, was swallowed up by JPMorgan Global Growth & Income and Dundee stalwart Alliance went multi-manager.
We have seen plenty of changes of fund managers by investment trusts, as independent boards have reacted at times to underperformance.
The main characters in this tight-knit sector had surely become pretty much used to just about anything.
However, Mr Weinstein and his Saba Capital Management hedge fund set the cat among the pigeons in a way that had not really been seen before when they grabbed centre-stage only a few weeks ago.
Saba has targeted seven investment trusts, in what represents a huge salvo.
Its move has been the talk of the town.
Many people are obviously involved directly, in the particular investment trusts and fund management houses affected.
However, it has seemed that everyone in the sector has been waiting with bated breath at every stage to see what happens next.
This degree of attention seems entirely justified, given the extent to which the outcome of Saba’s salvo dictates what happens from here.
Ahead of the first of the shareholder votes late last month, at London-based Herald Investment Trust, it was difficult to tell exactly what would happen.
Saba’s........
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