Thrashed! Wall Street raider Boaz Weinstein in seventh defeat

US raider Boaz Weinstein has suffered a humiliating seventh defeat as investors in another investment trust rejected his plans to take control.

Edinburgh Worldwide, a FTSE 250 trust worth £681m, slapped down proposals tabled by Weinstein’s firm Saba Capital to oust the board and replace them with his own allies.

Nearly 64 per cent of the votes were cast against the plans. Turnout was 65 per cent of eligible shares.

Non-Saba shareholders almost unanimously rejected the US firm’s plans, with more than 98 per cent voting in opposition.

‘Shareholders have spoken: they have rejected Saba Capital’s proposal for a fundamentally different strategy based on fundamentally different principles with a fundamentally different investment approach,’ said chairman Jonathan Simpson-Dent.

It follows similar defeats for Saba as investors in six other trusts targeted by boardroom coup attempts – Herald, Baillie Gifford US Growth, CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income, Henderson Opportunities, the European Smaller Companies trust (ESCT) and Keystone Positive Change – opposed the measures by wide margins.

Humiliated: US raider Boaz Weinstein has suffered a seventh defeat as investors in another investment trust rejected his plans to take control

In another development, ESCT said Weinstein (pictured) had agreed to shelve, for now, its request for a second vote on the trust’s structure and enter negotiations.

The votes have been marked by high turnout among the retail shareholder base following a campaign by the Mail to raise awareness of the issue and encourage investors to have their say.

But the US raider refuses to give up. On Monday, Saba announced plans for fresh votes at ESCT and CQS as well as at two new trusts, Middlefield Canadian Income and Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund.

The new ballots will ask investors to decide whether the trusts should turn themselves from closed-ended funds into open-ended.

Closed-ended funds are listed on the stock market where their value fluctuates based on demand for shares. Open-ended funds create shares for new investors and can issue stock. The price is based on the value of the fund’s assets.