Saba comes for Edinburgh Worldwide’s board... again

Boaz Weinstein, founder and chief investment officer of Saba Capital Management, during the Bloomberg Invest event in New York, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 — (Image credit: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

US-based activist investor Saba Capital Management has announced plans to displace the board of Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWIT), for the third time in little over a year.

Shareholders of Edinburgh Worldwide (LON:EWI) rejected Saba’s proposals at a requisitioned general meeting in January 2026. The vote echoed the result of a similar proposal last February, when EWIT was among seven UK investment trusts whose boards Saba attempted to replace with appointees it had nominated.

Saba was decisively beaten in both votes, with 98.4% of votes cast at last year’s vote and 92.7% at this year’s having been cast against the proposals (excluding Saba’s own votes).

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On 10 February, though, Saba announced that it will bring proposals at EWIT’s upcoming AGM that will essentially re-run January’s vote by rejecting the re-election of EWIT’s current board of directors and instead appointing its nominees, Gabriel Gliksberg, Michael Joseph and Jassen Trenkow.

“After just 53.2% of shares voted chose to stick with the status quo at the January 2026 requisitioned general meeting, we believe a meaningful portion of shareholders remain unhappy,” Saba wrote in an open letter to EWIT shareholders. This figure doesn’t account for the fact that Saba owns the vast majority of shares that voted in favour of its proposals.

Are other trusts being targeted by Saba?

While it appears that Saba is for now focusing its efforts on EWIT, it has substantial stakes in other UK investment trusts, prompting speculation that further corporate actions could be incoming.

Two of these trusts have attempted to pre-emptively dissuade Saba from taking actions against their boards by offering a tender offer to shareholders at close to net asset value (NAV).

Saba rejected one of these, from Herald Investment Trust (LON:HRI), meaning the tender offer was withdrawn on 3 February. Herald’s board is in discussions with Saba over an alternative proposal that will enable Saba to exit the trust that is amenable to the hedge fund. If no agreement can be reached, the board has proposed a backstop tender offer with a lower voter threshold, meaning Saba couldn’t effectively veto it.

The other, Impax Environmental Markets (LON:IEM) is due to vote on the tender offer at a general meeting on 23 February.

Dan is a financial journalist who, prior to joining MoneyWeek, spent five years writing for OPTO, an investment magazine focused on growth and technology stocks, ETFs and thematic investing.

Before becoming a writer, Dan spent six years working in talent acquisition in the tech sector, including for credit scoring start-up ClearScore where he first developed an interest in personal finance.

Dan studied Social Anthropology and Management at Sidney Sussex College and the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Outside finance, he also enjoys travel writing, and has edited two published travel books.