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Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust PLC on Tuesday said activist investor Saba Capital Management LP is ‘choosing not to listen’ after it made another call for a shake-up of the Scottish firm’s board. Earlier on Tuesday, the New York-based hedge fund proposed three new directors to add to EWI’s board, with shareholders to vote on the matter at EWI’s annual general meeting. This follows Saba’s failure to have its resolutions approved by the EWI board last month. Saba had proposed to remove all six independent directors of the FTSE 250 listing, and replace them with candidates of Saba’s choosing. Of the votes cast, 53% rejected this proposal. Majority investor Saba owns around 30% of EWI, and excluding Saba’s voting rights, 93% of shareholders were against the resolutions. At the time, EWIT Chair Jonathan Simpson-Dent said the trust would ‘continue to seek constructive engagement’ with Saba. ‘Following 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,’ Simpson-Dent had said. Saba had proposed a similar shake-up about a year earlier, with EWI one among several UK-listed funds to be targeted. The US firm on Tuesday insisted that ‘a meaningful portion of shareholders remain unhappy’. According to Saba, a management refresh is necessary to address a ‘history of underperformance combined with the board’s governance and oversight failures’. The investor has proposed to appoint Gabriel Gliksberg, Michael Joseph and Jassen Trenkow to the board. Gliksberg is the founder of ATG Capital Management, Joseph is a chartered accountant and deputy chief investment officer of Stansberry Asset Management and Trenkow is a former staffer of Barclays PLC and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ‘To ensure the status quo does not continue, we are also calling on shareholders to vote against the re-election of the current directors,’ Saba said on Tuesday. ‘All decisions regarding EWI’s future, including the company’s manager, will be made solely by the new, independent directors not by Saba or anyone else,’ the investor stressed. Responding to the latest proposals from Saba, an Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust spokesperson said: ‘For the third time, Saba is seeking to replace the entire independent board with its own nominees in order to take control of the company. ‘In doing so, it is repeating a number of misleading statements that have featured throughout its aggressive and personal campaign.’ Referencing last month’s vote, the spokesperson added: ‘Despite this decisive outcome and the strong shareholder opposition to Saba taking control, Saba is evidently choosing not to listen. ‘Since shareholders rejected its resolutions on 20 January, the Board has made a number of attempts to engage with Saba and its advisers. On every occasion, Saba has failed to engage.’ Among the matters with which Saba takes issue is the decision made by investment manager Baillie Gifford ‘to materially sell down’ EWI’s shares of SpaceX Corp, as Saba sees it. Saba called Elon Musk’s aerospace firm EWI’s ‘crown jewel’, arguing: ‘The recent reports of SpaceX potentially taking part in the biggest merger of all time ahead of a potential IPO later this year only underscore the magnitude of the lost upside.’ EWI reduced its SpaceX holding in October by around 35%, while Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust PLC cut its own stake by around 49%. Saba has also made repeated jabs at Simpson-Dent, claiming EWI did not properly disclose that Simpson-Dent had been a director of HomeServe Membership Ltd, which was fined £30.5 million by the UK Financial Conduct Authority back in 2014. The watchdog penalised HomeServe for mis-selling insurance policies and compliance failures, issuing what was, at the time, its largest ever retail fine. Back in January, an EWI spokesperson said Saba intended ‘to prioritise its own commercial interests to the potential detriment of other shareholders.’ EWI’s net asset value per share was 220.97 pence at the end of October, up 30% from 170.40 pence a year prior. This easily beat its comparator, the S&P Global Small Cap index, whose total return was 12.8% for the same period. EWI shares closed up 1.3% at 236.00p on Tuesday afternoon in London, and are up 24% over the last 12 months. The stock is down 43%, however, over the past five years. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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