Saba’s plans for the trust
Although Saba has not made its full intentions clear, if the proposed directors were to replace the trust's current board members, they would have the power to remove Baillie Gifford as investment manager and appoint Saba's own managers instead. They’ve done this with the Impax Environmental Markets Trust recently. Saba have said that their appointees would offer shareholders a cash exit at, or near, NAV.
If Saba were to replace Baillie Gifford as manager of the trust, this could lead to a change in the trust’s investment mandate, including investment philosophy and process, where the trust invests, its risk level and fee structure. This includes whether shareholders would retain access to the private company investments that currently form part of the portfolio.
Investors should consider whether the trust would still meet their investment needs if it were under new management, and the investment mandate changed.
What has the Baillie Gifford board said?
The board have unanimously recommended shareholders vote against the resolutions, believing that Saba’s intentions are to ultimately gain control of the trust and end the trust’s current investment mandate.
The board think if Saba Resolutions are passed, the appointments severely compromise the independence of the Board who are appointed to act in the best interests of the shareholders.
They also believe that the present strategy is the best option for shareholders. They believe since the trust was established in March 2018 it’s been successful in fulfilling its investment strategy of identifying the exceptional growth businesses in America and owning them for the long term. This includes difficult to access private companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Stripe and CloudFlare, as well as the recently publicly listed SpaceX, where the trust first invested in 2018.
Finally, they also believe there is an improving backdrop for innovative, growth-focused businesses. This includes the likes of AI, automation and healthcare and the trust is well positioned to capture this.
If Saba’s resolutions were to fail and the current directors are re-elected the trust will continue in its current form with the same investment mandate.
You can read more about the Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust including the trust’s performance in our recent trust update.
How to vote
At HL we believe that voting is key for shareholders to ensure that the companies they invest in are run in line with their interests. However, this information isn’t personal advice and we can’t advise on which way you should vote. If you’re unsure what to do, please seek advice. All investments can fall as well as rise in value, so you could get back less than you invested.
The general meeting is set to take place at 1pm on 23 October, with the deadline to vote on the HL platform of 7pm on 20 October.
How to give an instruction
Log in to your account using our website. It’s not possible to give instructions via the HL app
Select ‘View shareholder meetings’
View your shareholder meetings and provide an instruction
You’ll be taken to a website managed by a third party called Broadridge to complete your instruction. HL is not responsible for the content on this website.
Full details on how to vote can be located here - AGMs and Shareholder Voting.