Elliott Advisors owns approximately 12% of the trust is seeking to get three new board members appointed. The nominees are Peter Chambers, Anthony Brooke and Rory Macnamara.
ISS said that the trio have extensive relevant experience in terms sitting on boards and in the financial sector, and their appointment would be beneficial to the trust.
The development is highly significant because ISS and other firms like it are perceived as impartial adjudicators who will make recommendations they find to be in the interest of the wider shareholder base of a company.
This undermines an integral part of the current Alliance Trust board’s argument that Elliott is acting in a way which promotes its own interests to the detriment of other shareholders.
ISS also said it does consider the trio as independent, challenging Alliance Trust’s claim that the nominees are not because they were selected through an Elliott initiated process.
There was also criticism of the trust’s performance, with ISS saying it considers Alliance Trust to have underperformed its peer group, with a discount to net asset value wider than similar investment trusts.
Alliance Trust said it was ‘disappointed’ by the ISS report and felt it does not represent many of the facts provided to them.
