Laxey attacks Alliance Trust voting rules

ACTIVIST investor Laxey Partners has raised "serious concerns" regarding a shareholder voting scheme at Alliance Trust that it says may give rise to a conflict of interest between board members and shareholders.

Laxey Partners, which is campaigning for the firm to introduce a share buy back scheme, has written to the Alliance Trust board and published a letter to shareholders highlighting its concerns about what it believes is a "deeply unfair" voting scheme which acts as a "poison pill" for AGM resolutions not backed by the board.

Laxey highlighted Alliance Trust's use of a "shareholder enfranchisement facility" which means some votes, mainly those held through Alliance Trust Savings, are allocated in line with those of active voters without consent or knowledge of the shareholder.

Although ATS shares would not usually have a vote without the facility, Pirc, the corporate governance consultancy, said Laxey has a "legitimate beef".

Laxey have proposed two resolutions to be put to shareholder vote at the next AGM. Alliance trust declined to comment.