It was dispiriting to hear a major Scottish company declare that it has "reached the end of the road" with a US hedge fund's obsession, writes Business Editor Ian McConnell.

Public markets are obviously a cold business and often tend to be arenas in which no or little quarter is given. However, the saga has raised questions over the listing rules.

It was dispiriting to hear a major Scottish investment trust declare on Tuesday that it has “reached the end of the road” with the “obsession” of a US hedge fund which has attempted repeatedly to oust its board.

While the declaration was not a major surprise, given the circumstances, it was particularly disheartening because the trust’s other shareholders have overwhelmingly voted against two such attempts.

These clear rejections have not, sadly, prevented US hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital Management coming back for a third attempt to oust the board of Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWIT) and instal directors chosen by Saba.

In the face of this third attempt, announced on February 10 only weeks after Saba was defeated in its second attack on EWIT on January 20, the board of the investment trust on Tuesday revealed a “regrettable but necessary step”.

EWIT, which had total assets of £857.29 million at January 31 and is run from the Scottish capital by Baillie Giffod, announced its intention to put forward a proposal to implement a tender offer for up to 100% of its issued share capital.

Jonathan Simpson-Dent, who chairs EWIT, declared: “Regrettably, we believe it is only a matter of time before Saba succeeds.”

This is a sorry state of affairs.

And it seems unfair that a minority shareholder such as Saba, which Mr Simpson-Dent noted in January owned “just over” 30% of EWIT, can just keep coming back time and again with the same or similar proposals.

Shareholders have twice made it plain that they support the current board of EWIT, which has Elon Musk’s SpaceX as its single largest holding and on Tuesday highlighted its outperformance of its benchmark in the last year.

But the danger of........

© Herald Scotland