Trust boosts its defences after failed assault by Boaz Weinstein

An investment trust targeted by US carpetbagger Boaz Weinstein has moved to see off the Wall Street raider by unveiling a swathe of plans to placate investors.

The £204 million Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund, which counts butcher Cranswick and defence firm Babcock among its holdings, fell in the sights of Weinstein’s Saba Capital last month as the hedge fund tabled a vote on changing the trust from a closed-ended to open-ended fund. 

That could have made it hard for investors to sell shares if a lot of people had tried to exit at once.

Despite declaring Saba’s request invalid, the trust said on Wednesday it would bring in changes to ‘strengthen’ its appeal to investors, including a cut in management fees.

The trust also said it would allow shareholders to vote in three years on whether it should continue. It pledged similar votes every three years.

It will also do more share buybacks, preventing shares trading at a big discount to the value of the underlying assets.

Despite the Saba broadside, a spokesman for the trust said the changes were ‘not the result of any negotiations’.

In December Weinstein said he would try to remove the bosses of seven trusts to install himself and his allies in their place, but failed in all cases.