LONDON (Reuters) -Shareholders of UK investment trust Trian Investors 1 Ltd (TI1) have voted to remove Chris Sherwell as the firm's chair after criticism from activist investors over various governance issues.
Shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis had backed a call by shareholders Global Value Fund, Invesco, Janus Henderson and Pelham, which together hold around 40% of TI1 shares, to remove Sherwell over issues including recent changes to the trust's strategy.
Shareholders also voted at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Aug. 5 to add Robert Legget, one of the activists' choice of directors, to the board, TI1 said in a statement on Monday. However it did not say who the trust's new chair would be.
The votes were close, with 50.72% in favour of the changes.
"We ... thank our outgoing chairman Chris Sherwell for his leadership and many contributions to the company," TI1 said in a statement, adding that it expected to provide shareholders with a further update with or before the release of its interim results in September.
The rebel shareholders said in a separate statement that they had "every confidence that with a new Chairman, steps can be taken to restore the trust and confidence of shareholders in governance and operations at the company".
The activists had expressed concerns about recent changes to TI1's strategy on the number and type of its investments, proposals to turn the trust into a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and about its share price performance.
TI1's investment management strategy is carried out by activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, itself an activist investor, taking stakes in companies and seeking changes in order to boost their share price.
Holdings include stakes in Unilever (LON:ULVR) and Wendy’s.
At the EGM, TI1 shareholders voted to keep Simon Holden and Anita Rival as directors, also by a narrow margin. ISS, another shareholder advisory firm, had backed the removal of Rival, but was against sacking Sherwell.