Aggressive US hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein has thrown his support behind a campaign from another activist investor to oust directors from a £300 million investment trust, The Mail on Sunday understands.
London-listed Gore Street Energy Storage Fund, which invests in massive battery projects in the UK and abroad, has come under fire from RM Funds, which has accused the trust’s board of presiding over ‘sustained’ share price ‘underperformance’.
Its campaign has now been backed by Weinstein, who shook up the City’s soporific investment trust sector this year, launching simultaneous coup attempts against seven trust boards, only to be roundly rejected by an army of small investors in each.
This month, his firm Saba revealed its 5 per cent stake in Gore Street and last week held talks with RM Funds on its campaign, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The US hedge fund is said to have been ‘supportive’ of the activist’s approach after this.
Back on the attack: Boaz Weinstein has thrown his support behind RM Funds’ campaign to oust directors from Gore Street Energy Storage Fund
RM called a shareholder meeting at Gore Street in August to replace non-executive directors Patrick Cox and Caroline Banszky, with its own nominees to ‘restore shareholder confidence’.
The move was unsuccessful, so the activist made a second attempt at the trust’s annual meeting last month, but was again defeated. Despite this, RM wants to call another emergency meeting, saying the trust must be more transparent over its costs and operations and boost its share price over the next six months.
Saba declined to comment.
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