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A record number of contributors have voted across Hargreaves Lansdown in the battle between US activists Saba Capital and seven UK investment funds.
The UK's largest direct-to-consumer investing website said it had seen an unprecedented level of voting among VC shareholders as they cast their view on SABA's proposal to abolish fund boards.
Hargreaves Lansdown said 41 per cent of its Herald Investment Trust clients had voted. Saba He lost the vote this week.
The turnout will charge concerns that individual shareholders, who tend to be less involved than professional investors, will not show up to vote.
Saba's attempt to replace the seven fund panels with its proposed nominees represents one of the biggest divestments of the 150-year-old investment industry, which manages around £260bn.
SABA founder Boaz Weinstein said that if the hedge fund is successful, it will position itself to run funds to replace current managers Herald and Janus Henderson, Manulife and Baillie Gifford.
Hargreaves Lansdowne said nearly one in two of its clients who support the smaller European companies trust, run by Janus Henderson, have voted so far.
The investment site added the level of votes cast for each of the funds. Other funds include Keystone Evential Change, Baillie Gifford US Growth, Henderson Extracts, CQS Natural Resources Growth & Deirly and Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust.
“We saw a much higher proportion of clients voting than usual as a result of our campaign to proactively inform clients,” said Emma Wall, head of platform investments at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“While this is something to celebrate, we urge those who have not yet voted to do so, because it is really important that they exercise their right to vote. Shareholder rights are one of the key benefits of an investment trust structure.” She added that the deadline for voting on five of Funds is the end of January.
Mutual funds are closed-end funds and their shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. However, stock prices tend to lag the funds' net asset value in the last year, which Weinstein has turned on the spotlight.
The average investment trust discount is about 15 percent, according to the Association of Investment Companies. The widest average discount since the financial crisis was recorded at around 19 percent in October 2023.
SABA needs more than 50 percent of the votes cast in each box in order to win.
