Home Money Big investors must defend UK share ownership and fight US marauders, says ALEX BRUMMER

Big investors must defend UK share ownership and fight US marauders, says ALEX BRUMMER

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Short Term: Today's AGM of the £1.4bn Herald Investment Trust, the first of the 'Seven Miserables' targeted by Saba Capital's Boaz Weinstein, allows investors to be heard

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 give investors, retailers and fund managers a say.

Most of the time, annual meetings of investment trusts are held quietly, few red flags are raised, and it would be difficult to know what happened.

Today’s session of the £1.4bn Herald Investment Trust in the city, the first of the ‘Les Miserables’ targeted by US marauder Boaz Weinstein, allows investors to be heard.

Weinstein’s Saba group has secured a substantial 27.8 percent stake, according to Refinitiv data.

Short Term: Today’s AGM of the £1.4bn Herald Investment Trust, the first of the ‘Seven Miserables’ targeted by Saba Capital’s Boaz Weinstein, allows investors to be heard

It leaves with a formidable lead in its effort to replace the current directors, led by chairman Andrew Joy, with its own underwriters.

In the past, Alliance Trust, Electra and the sector’s granddaddy, Foreign & Colonial, have all been targeted by predatory predators.

It is not just trusts that need to defend themselves publicly.

The big boys in town need to take advantage of today’s AGM, and those to come, to erect a marble pillar of UK share ownership.

Czech debt

Postal workers, represented primarily by the Communication Workers Union, should carefully consider whether they can trust the commitments made by Czech Sphinx Daniel Kretinsky.

It has promised to raise wages and protect jobs if it is successful in its £3.6bn bid for Royal Mail.

They are not alone. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds – who, like much of the Labor backbench, has virtually no business experience – should consider whether he has been misled by the billionaire’s sweet talk about future investments.

Debt-driven deals, when interest rates remain stubbornly high, rarely work for good.

Dutch postal service PostNL, in which Kretinsky’s EP group owns a 29 percent stake, this week issued a profit warning and asked the government for help.

Turning around mail delivery services, even without a mountain of debt, is not 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 company Uniper, with a price tag of £16bn. Becoming part of a growing debt-driven empire will be disastrous for Royal Mail.

Courting growth

Finally, something the city can cheer up by Rachel Reeves.

The Chancellor’s submission to the Supreme Court warning of “considerable economic harm” if there were unlimited payouts to consumers caught by hidden fees on car finance is designed to limit losses to the financial sector.

Payment protection insurance-style payments, which reached more than £38bn, could hamper lending and the growth agenda.

Judges must resist the temptation to become part of the compensation culture and return to contract law’s concept of “caveat emptor”: let the buyer beware.

Kretinsky has emerged as a potential buyer for German state-owned company Uniper, with a price tag of £16bn. Becoming part of a growing debt-driven empire will be disastrous for Royal Mail.

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