Shareholders in two more investment trusts have snubbed New York hedge fund Saba Capital’s attempts to unseat their boards.

Henderson Opportunities (HOT) and CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income (CYN) today became the fourth and fifth of seven being targeted by Boaz Weinstein’s company to stick with their existing directors.

Mr Weinstein wants to sack the directors, claiming they have underperformed, with persistent discounts to net asset value. He aimed to replace their boards and merge several trusts.

Saba’s shareholding in HOT is 24.7% and the trust said 65.4% of total shareholder votes cast were against Saba’s proposals. Just 0.72% of its total voting rights unconnected to the hedge fund backed Saba. 

More than 59% of CYN votes cast were against the proposals, with 98.6% of votes cast by non-Saba shareholders voting against the hedge fund. 

Saba’s proposals have already been rejected by investors in Herald Investment Trust, and the Baillie Gifford managed pair US Growth and Keystone Positive Change who both held meetings yesterday.

Investors in European Smaller Companies vote on Wednesday while shareholders in the third Baillie Gifford managed trust, Edinburgh Worldwide, meet on 14 February.

Saba ultimately wants to merge some or all of the trusts into a new vehicle targeting other London-listed funds with large discounts to NAV.

Christopher Casey, chair of CYN, said: “The strong vote against Saba’s proposals speaks loud and clear – the majority of our shareholders have shown the confidence in the existing board and have voted to have them steer the Company in the future.

“Looking to the future, the board will continue its efforts to review the options available to us to preserve and deliver value to all our shareholders. This will be communicated to the market by June 2025.”

Chair of Henderson Opportunities Wendy Colquhoun said the result “shows that shareholders do not want to be part of a Saba managed vehicle, but instead want to be able to retain full choice over what happens to their investment”.