Invesco Enhanced Income has appointed two women to replace board directors that exited in 2018 following a public spat with the asset manager.
Kate Bolsover (pictured), who sits of several trust boards, becomes chair of the £113.7m trust, while former OMGI head of fixed income Christine Johnson takes over as head of the management engagement committee, a regulatory filing on Wednesday afternoon revealed.
Both appointments are effective immediately.
Paul Yates had been interim chairman following the exit of Donald Adamson, who had faced off with fund managers Paul Read and Paul Causer. Each side gave differing reports of the cause of the fallout with the Adamson blaming fees negotiations while Read and Causer said they had wanted to resign from the mandate due to the aggressive tactics of the board.
Although a truce was reached in June 2018, investors faced a 6% drop in share price on news Invesco was planning to resign from the mandate, pushing the trust into discount territory. The trust has returned to a 3.5% premium, although the investment trust’s full-year results revealed the battle had resulted in a final bill of £460,000 for professional and legal fees. Invesco made a goodwill contribution towards the costs.
‘Water under the bridge’
“The trust has already moved on but this provides a bookend for it. The fund has already recovered its rating and it’s just a bit of water under the bridge,” said Winterflood Investment Trusts head of research Simon Elliott.
Bolsover brings investment trust experience while Johnson’s portfolio management experience is important following the departure of Richard Williams, who had been the primary fixed income expertise on the board, Elliott said.
Williams and Adamson both exited in June 2018.
Bolsover is already chair of the Fidelity Asian Values Trust and non-executive director on the Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust. She has previously been director of corporate communications at Cazenove Group and JP Morgan Cazenove and managing director at Signature Financial Group and Baring Fund Managers.
Johnson is currently a non-executive director of investment manager CCLA. She left OMGI in May 2017 after a strategic review nixed the role of head of fixed income.
Yates returns to his role as head of audit committee following his stint as interim chair.
