Elliott Advisors builds 5% stake in British Empire trust

Stake worth around £32m

Activist investor Elliott Advisors has built a 5% stake in the £655m British Empire trust via a derivative contract.

The hedge fund firm is known for launching campaigns against trusts it sees as underperforming and its most recent battle was with management of Alliance Trust to improve corporate governance and investment returns, which ultimately led to a board reshuffle and the departure of chief executive Katerine Garrett-Cox. Elliott still holds a 16% stake in Alliance Trust, which was the subject of takeover interest following an informal approach from RIT Capital Partners, which it later backed out of. Elliott Advisors has now built a 5% stake in the British Empire trust through an equivalent ...