IT Anonymous: How Laxey did Alliance Trust a favour

TRUSTS

Three years ago the battle lines were drawn against Alliance Trust, as activist investor Laxey Partners publically called on the company to shape up or hand over the management of its assets to a third party.

For the best part of two years, the two companies were embroiled in a bitter public spat. Laxey lambasted Alliance Trust for ‘poor performance’ and also fiercely criticised the company’s failure to address its wide discount, urging the trust to buy back its own shares to improve returns. At one stage, Laxey pointedly  suggested Aberdeen Asset Management would be an upgrade from Alliance Trust chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox, when rumours swirled Martin Gilbert’s firm was mulling a takeover bid. But in both the 2011 and 2012 Alliance Trust AGMs, Laxey Partners failed to gain s...