New York activist Saba Capital has unleashed a new campaign, calling on four investment trusts to roll their assets into comparable open-ended funds.

The move by Boaz Weinstein’s hedge fund comes ahead of Friday’s key vote by shareholders in Edinburgh Worldwide, the last of seven to vote on his original proposals to remove their boards.

In this latest move Saba has called for votes at CQS Natural Resources Growth & Income (CYN), European Smaller Companies (ESCT), Middlefield Canadian Income (MCT) and Schroder UK Mid Cap (SCP).

Shareholders in CYN and ESCT, along with four other trusts, have already rejected Mr Weinstein’s attempt to replace their directors.

He said Saba had received “thoughtful feedback” from other shareholders in this latest list of trusts, including a desire for an exit at net asset value (NAV), which had shaped the new plan.

Saba said its goal is simple: to provide shareholders the opportunity to remain invested in the same strategy within an open-ended fund structure that will never trade at a discount to NAV. 

“We are calling these general meetings to provide shareholders the opportunity to vote on a proposal to transition each of the Trusts to an open-ended structure and receive long-overdue liquidity at net asset value,” it said. 

Shareholders in Edinburgh Worldwide, which is listed on the FTSE 250, hold an estimated 50% of the trust compared to around 21% owned by Saba, although the US hedge fund could control the votes of a larger share through financial instruments. As a result, investor turnout will be crucial in deciding the outcome.

Edinburgh’s chairman Jonathan Simpson-Dent has been one of the more vocal critics of Mr Weinstein during the campaign, accusing the US financier of posing an “existential threat” to the sector.

Saba has been decisively defeated in each of the first six votes after failing to convince shareholders of his arguments around poor performance and claiming that his replacement directors would do better.

He is speaking at today’s LSE Alternative Investments Conference which Saba sponsors.