BlackRock shareholders vote, keep directors in place in Saba saga

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) -BlackRock won a fight with hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein last week when shareholders voted at four of its closed-end funds, data showed, keeping the asset manager's directors in place and retaining it as the manager.

Weinstein's Saba Capital Management, a large owner in BlackRock's closed-end funds, and BlackRock have been locked in battle for months over the future of 10 of the funds.

BlackRock is the world's biggest asset management company with more than $10 trillion in assets under management.

Saba wanted investors to replace the BlackRock directors by electing its own nominees to the funds' boards. It also wanted investors to fire BlackRock as manager at some of them.

"Shareholders rejected Saba’s efforts to unseat BlackRock as investment adviser and voted to support the Board’s nominees at several funds," Glenn Hubbard, Chair of the Boards of BlackRock Closed-End Funds said in a statement on Friday.

"For the second year in a row, Saba has failed to convince shareholders that Saba will deliver more value than the funds’ current stewardship and management teams," he added.

"There is a great injustice that continues as BlackRock refuses to let its fund owners have their voices heard," Saba said in a response to the vote on Monday.

Saba has cited poor performance as the reason change is needed at the funds, which jointly manage roughly $10 billion.

Investors voted at four BlackRock funds last week () after having voted at six (, and) the previous week.

Meetings at and have been adjourned until next month due to a failure to achieve quorum.

The BlackRock funds require that a majority of the outstanding shares -- 50% plus 1 share -- are voted in favor of a director to secure election. At several funds neither side met that level, which means the current directors will be held over and stand for election again next year.

Saba did not secure enough votes to replace directors or fire the fund manager at any of the eight funds.

The preliminary vote count is subject to final certification by the independent inspector of elections, BlackRock said.

Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, don't issue or redeem new shares, which can leave them trading above or below the value of the securities held by the fund.

For months, Saba has argued that investors will benefit when the discount to the BlackRock funds' underlying assets is shrunk and that BlackRock should buy back shares from investors which could unlock some $1.4 billion in value.

BlackRock said it has taken action to improve performance and that its directors are better choices than Saba's nominees.

The battle between BlackRock, which manages money for retail investors and pension funds and advises governments, and Weinstein, who made headlines last year when he and other prominent investors tried to buy hedge fund Sculptor Capital Management after it agreed to sell to someone else, is shining light on an often overlooked part of the mutual fund industry.

Saba, which has taken the fight to court, said in its statement on Monday: "Looking ahead, we plan to hold BlackRock accountable in court".

BlackRock was advised by JPMorgan Chase, Sidely Austin LLP, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Stradley Ronon, and Georgeson.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Diane Craft and Alexander Smith)