{"id":710090,"date":"2026-01-21T04:27:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/710090\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T04:27:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T04:27:37","slug":"edinburgh-worldwide-rejects-saba-for-second-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/710090\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Worldwide rejects Saba for second time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shareholders of the Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust have voted against proposals from activist investor, Saba Capital, to replace the board. <\/p>\n

In a general meeting today (January 20) shareholders, representing 20 per cent of the share capital, rejected Saba\u2019s proposals. <\/p>\n

In December<\/a>, Saba made its second attempt to takeover the board of the investment trust, which is run by Baillie Gifford. <\/p>\n

EWIT chair, Jonathan Simpson-Dent, said: \u201cFor the second time in less than a year, Edinburgh Worldwide\u2019s shareholders have voted decisively to reject Saba\u2019s proposal to install its own nominees to the board and the uncertainty that would have entailed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the board was now \u201cresolutely focused\u201d on delivering strong returns for shareholders. <\/p>\n

Recommended
\n <\/p>\n

\"Recommended<\/p>\n

Impax trust \u2018left with no choice\u2019 but to launch tender offer in response to Saba<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Simpson-Dent said with Saba remaining the largest shareholder, at around 30 per cent, EWIT would continue to seek \u201cconstructive engagement\u201d with the company. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cFollowing a year of significant and costly distraction, we are ready to return our full attention to our primary purpose: investing in innovation, transformation, and exceptional potential in a way that respects the clear wishes expressed by the majority of shareholders both last February and again today.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Carthew, head of investment companies at QuotedData, said it was time for Saba to admit defeat and accept \u201cgenerous exit terms\u201d on Herald and Impax Environmental, the other investment trusts it was attempting to takeover. <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSo, a record turnout and almost everyone bar Saba rejecting its proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely the message must get through to Saba that investors don\u2019t want it in charge; not of EWI, nor Herald, nor Impax Environmental Markets, nor any other trust for that matter. If it wants to run a trust it must IPO one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Stone, chief executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), said Saba\u2019s failure a second time \u201cshows how much ordinary investors value their investment trust\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShareholders turned out in force to reject the replacement of the independent board with three new directors nominated by Saba,\u201d said Stone. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, the vote has highlighted the importance of broad shareholder participation so that low turnouts don\u2019t hand victory to large minority shareholders by default.\u201d<\/p>\n

tara.o\u2019connor@ft.com<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your view?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have your say in the comments section below or email us: ftadviser.newsdesk@ft.com\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shareholders of the Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust have voted against proposals from activist investor, Saba Capital, to replace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[212865,748,1102,212866,8370,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-710090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-baillie-gifford-co","tag-britain","tag-edinburgh","tag-edinburgh-worldwide-investment-trust-plc","tag-ft-adviser","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115931201611442233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}