14-02-2025
Finally, Britain has stood up for its stock market
Against all the odds, Boaz Weinstein is likely to lose all seven of the votes he demanded from the investment trust world. He has already lost six, and the board of Edinburgh Worldwide will probably confirm a clean sweep this afternoon.
The man himself is even less optimistic, declaring 'we are going to lose for sure' earlier this week at what has to be one of the most impressive student-organised conferences out there (props to the London School of Economics Alternative Investments Conference for quite the line-up).
Not a single person I spoke to in the run-up to these votes believed a 7-0 record was possible – even the most hopeful investment trust stalwarts thought four wins would be a turn up for the books.
Despite retail shareholders' track record for not showing up (less than a fifth cast their ballot in a vote on the infamous Woodford compensation scheme), an average 74.9pc of voting rights were executed.
Of course, this includes Mr Weinstein's hedge fund Saba's average 25.1pc holding and other institutional votes, but the turnout is to be applauded.
