LONDON (Reuters) - Elliott Advisors, the shareholder seeking a boardroom shake-up at Alliance Trust (L:ATST), threw out the trust's defence of its performance, costs, and dividend policy on Tuesday, and reiterated calls for the election of three new directors.
The New York-based hedge fund published a "forensic study" of the investment company's shareholder circular, which it said failed "to engage on matters of substance and resorts to personal attacks in a manner unbecoming of directors of a public company."
"Recent public comments by a former director of the Company about the lack of open debate in the board room has strengthened our view that added independence and a fresh perspective is needed to improve Alliance Trust," Elliott said in a statement.
Using third party data, Elliott pointed out that over all relevant return periods Alliance Trust has underperformed its sector peers and relevant benchmarks.
It also said its "ongoing charges ratio" of 0.6 percent was "distorted" and was 1 percent on average over the past five years.
The investor has proposed the election of Anthony Brooke, Peter Chambers and Rory Macnamara as new independent non-executive directors at the Annual General Meeting on April 29.