Win or draw? Alliance Trust share price rises as Elliott Advisors withdraws resolutions – but gets two seats on the board
Elliott Advisors will call this a win – Alliance Trust may settle for something rather less emphatic.
The day before what was set to be a heated annual general meeting (AGM), the financial services company appears to have reached a truce with one of its largest shareholders by giving it two seats on the board, in return for it withdrawing three resolutions proposing new board members, to be put forward at the meeting.
Shares in the company opened more than one per cent higher, at 525.5p, after Alliance Trust issued a statement to the stock exchange saying it had agreed to appoint industry veterans Anthony Brooke and Rory Macnamara to its board.
In return, Elliott has agreed to withdraw its three resolutions from the AGM and "has committed to support the board and management on all other resolutions".
It added:
The board and Elliott have also agreed on certain mutual non-disparagement undertakings and that Elliott will not call a general meeting or seek to agitate against the company, its board or management publicly until after the company's 2016 AGM at the earliest.
