ABERDEEN Asset Management is being forced to revamp the investment strategy of its Frontier Markets Investment Company after large numbers of the fund’s ordinary shareholders applied to cash in their holdings.
Last month the board of the trust issued a tender offer designed to allow up to 100 per cent of ordinary shareholders to sell their shares.
At the time of launching the tender offer the trust’s board said that “if the number of ordinary shares tendered is such that the board is of the view that the continuance of the company is not in the best interests of the continuing shareholders, it reserves the right to terminate the tender offer”.
Yesterday it announced that the number of shares tendered “is such” that it has abandoned the offer, with Aberdeen providing a “detailed proposal” about the trust’s future.
That proposal is thought to include the option of a cash exit for shareholders as well as a plan to widen the fund’s mandate to allow it to invest across all emerging markets.
Currently the trust invests in funds that themselves invest in “up and coming emerging markets” such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe. Its largest exposure is to Pakistan.
While shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on Aberdeen’s proposals, no timeframe has been set for this.
The news comes after Aberdeen reported a 28 per cent fall in profits for the year to the end of September, with its funds experiencing net outflows of £32.8 billion, down from £34bn in the previous year.
In the year to the end of June the Frontier Markets trust’s assets fell by 13.6 per cent to $140.5 million.
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