Big investors must stand up for British share ownership and fight US looters, says ALEX BRUMMER
General meetings may be imperfect, but they are the key to shareholder democracy.
Private equity management, hedge funds and other unlisted vehicles hide behind layers of complex ownership and answer only to themselves.
Listed companies offer investors, retailers and fund managers the opportunity to have a say.
Typically, mutual fund annual meetings are held in silence, few warning signs are raised, and it is difficult to know what happened.
Investors can be heard at today’s session of the £1.4 billion Herald Investment Trust in the City, the first of the ‘Seven Miserables’ targeted by US plunderer Boaz Weinstein.
Weinstein’s group Saba has built up a significant stake of 27.8 percent, according to Refinitiv data.
Short-term expert: Today’s AGM of the £1.4bn Herald Investment Trust, the first of ‘Seven Miserables’ targeted by Saba Capital’s Boaz Weinstein, offers investors the opportunity to be heard
It starts with a formidable advantage in its bid to replace the current directors, led by chairman Andrew Joy, with his own deputies.
In the past, Alliance Trust, Electra and the granddaddy of the Foreign & Colonial sector have all been on board predators.
It’s not just trusts that have to defend themselves publicly.
The city’s bigwigs must use today’s general meeting, and those to come, to prop up a marbled pillar of British share ownership.
Czech debts
Postal workers, mainly represented by the Communication Workers Union, should carefully consider whether they can trust the commitments of Czech sphinx Daniel Kretinsky.
He has promised to raise wages and protect jobs if he succeeds in his £3.6 billion bid for Royal Mail.
They are not alone. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds – who, like much of Labor’s leadership, has virtually no commercial experience – should be wondering whether he has been misled by the billionaire’s sweet talk about future investments.
Debt-fueled deals where interest rates remain stubbornly high rarely work out for the best.
The Dutch postal service PostNL, in which Kretinsky’s EP Group owns a 29 percent stake, issued a profit warning this week and asked for government help.
Turning around mail delivery services, even without a mountain of debt, isn’t easy.
Labor has enough problems with the railways and Thames Water without having to worry about Royal Mail if it all goes wrong.
Kretinsky has emerged as a potential buyer for German state-owned Uniper, with a price tag of £16 billion. Being part of an ever-expanding, debt-fueled empire will be disastrous for Royal Mail.
Courting growth
Finally something the city can applaud from Rachel Reeves.
The chancellor’s statement to the Supreme Court warning of “significant economic damage” if unlimited payouts are made to consumers blindsided by hidden commissions on car finance is aimed at limiting losses to the financial sector.
Payment protection Insurance-style payouts – which amounted to more than £38 billion – could hamper lending and the growth agenda.
Judges must resist the temptation to become part of the compensation culture and fall back on the contract law concept of ‘caveat emptor’: let the buyer beware.
Kretinsky has emerged as a potential buyer for German state-owned Uniper, with a price tag of £16 billion. Being part of an ever-expanding, debt-fueled empire will be disastrous for Royal Mail.
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