By Freya Berry
LONDON (Reuters) - Activist investor Edward Bramson renewed his attack on British private equity firm Electra (L:ELTA) on Monday, accusing it of inaccurate and misleading statements as he campaigns against its track record and presses for board representation.
Responding to Electra's yearly results featuring a 25 percent net asset value rise, Bramson's Sherborne (L:SIGB) vehicle published a letter to Electra's shareholders and released a string of documents on its website, including correspondence with Chairman Roger Yates.
Saying Electra executives had refused its latest request for a meeting, Sherborne's letter criticised the relationship between Electra Partners and its main client, Electra Private Equity , a listed investment trust, and questioned the way in which Electra calculates its asset values.
The latest exchanges come ahead of the Nov. 5 general meeting, requisitioned by Sherborne, which is set to vote on its demands to appoint Bramson and former Sherborne Chairman Ian Brindle to the board. Electra directors have unanimously recommended shareholders vote against both resolutions.
Shares in Electra, which owns restaurant chain TGI Fridays in Britain, were up almost 2 percent by 1012 BST, outperforming a 0.2 percent fall in the FTSE 250 (FTMC).
Electra Chairman Roger Yates told Reuters that three shareholder advisory firms, PIRC, ISS and Glass Lewis, had recommended shareholders vote against Bramson's election.
"If someone wants to change what we're doing, they'd better be pretty explicit about how they can add value to a greater extent than we are doing. Sherborne and Bramson have signally failed to do that," Yates said.
Sherborne declined comment. PIRC and U.S.-based ISS and Glass Lewis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The increasingly bitter dispute goes back more than a year.
Since Sherborne revealed a holding in February 2014 it has become Electra's largest shareholder. On Monday it marginally raised its stake to 29.83 percent from 29.75 percent, just short of the level at which it would have to make a full offer under British regulations.
In October 2014 shareholders voted against a string of proposals from Bramson which promised to more than double Electra's market value.
Last year Electra said it would conduct a review of the fees, capital structure and distribution policy that had been criticised by Bramson. It has since slashed management fees and said it will return 3 percent of net asset value (NAV) per year to shareholders via dividends or share buybacks.
It said on Monday it would pay a final dividend of 78 pence per share, taking the total to 116p for the year.
Diluted NAV rose 25 percent to an all-time high of 3,914p a share, which Electra said was helped by a series of portfolio divestments. The company said it had invested 188 million pounds and sold 259 million worth of assets.