Saba Capital Management, the credit relative value focused hedge fund firm founded by Boaz Weinstein, has filed a dissident proxy circular in connection with a special meeting of the Citadel Income Fund, a Canada-based closed-end investment trust.
The filing is the latest move in the firm’s wider campaign against closed-end funds trading at a discount.
According to a statement, New York-based Saba has requested the 11 September meeting to try and oust the fund’s current trustees and manager Artemis Investment Management Ltd, and to approve the fund’s “timely wind-up and liquidation”.
“After nearly seven months, we are pleased that Citadel has finally scheduled the Special Meeting so unitholders can have a voice in determining the future of their fund,” Weinstein said in a press release. “Since our prior attempts to engage constructively were effectively ignored, it is clear to us that management has had no plans to address the fund’s status quo of sustained underperformance, prolonged discounts and poor corporate governance.”
Other closed-end funds trading at a discount have also attracted the attention of Saba, including vehicles advised by BlackRock, Franklin Resources, Tortoise Capital Advisors, Adams Funds, and FS Investments. All have adopted control share acquisition provisions that limit the voting rights of new shareholders.
