The National Association of Pension Funds has urged boards and investors to engage constructively following the spat between Alliance Trust and Elliott Advisors.
Alliance Trust wants shareholders to reject an Elliott Advisors call for three non-executive directors to join its board, which goes to a vote in its 29 April annual general meeting.
An Napf spokesman woud not comment specifically about Alliance Trust but said: “It is right and appropriate that investors play their part and take their responsibilities seriously, monitoring, engaging with and ultimately holding accountable those individuals whom they have elected to the board.”
| The non-executive directors put forward by Elliott Advisors |
| Anthony Brooke: a former financial services executive who has worked in international capital markets |
| Peter Chambers, former chief executive officer of Legal and General Investment Management |
| Rory Macnamara, who has worked at companies including Morgan Grenfell |
Source: Elliott Advisors
She added: “It is generally preferable for investors and corporates to engage with each other in a positive and constructive fashion in the shared objective of building and reinforcing long-term success.”
Right to reply
An Alliance Trust spokesman said: “Alliance Trust is proud of its track record of delivering strong shareholder returns over both long and short-term horizons. Alliance Trust has delivered these returns without exposing our shareholders to excessive risk.
“The company has created and protected investor wealth for generations and has delivered an unbroken and almost unequalled track record of increasing dividends for the past 48 years.”
An Alliance Trade trading update covering three months to 31 March 2015 revealed total shareholder returns of 6.9 per cent over a three-month period, 13.8 per cent over a six-month period, 14.8 per cent over a year and 6.82 per cent over five years.
Alliance Trust Investments increased third party assets under management from £1,905m as of 31 December 2014 to £2,038m as of 31 March 2015.
The other subsidiary, Alliance Trust Savings, had £7,027m in assets under administration as of 31 March 2015.
