Electra hits back at activist investor

Electra Private Equity, the listed investment trust, has hit back at the “exuberant and unsubstantiated claims" made by an activist investor seeking seats on its board.

In a riposte, Roger Yates, chairman of the private equity house, on Monday said that Sherborne’s letter “demonstrates considerable misunderstanding of how Electra works” and that Edward Bramson, Sherborne’s founder, was engaged in “destabilising efforts”.

“Exuberant and unsubstantiated claims are no substitute for Electra's consistently superior track record,” Mr Yates said. “The board of directors of Electra would again like to reassure shareholders of its unrelenting focus on delivering superior returns for all shareholders.

Sherborne has built up a near 20pc stake in the investment trust and is pushing to have both Mr Bramson and City veteran Ian Brindle appointed to Electra’s board at a shareholder meeting on October 6. If elected, the activist has pledged to undertake a strategic review of the buy-out house.

Sherborne says it could double Electra’s share price to £60, realising at least £1bn in extra value for shareholders. The stock closed at £26.61 on Friday evening.

“Sherborne’s letter claims its strategic review will create over £1bn of value – but provides no further detail on how this might be achieved,” Electra said on Monday.

“Sherborne’s claims appear to be based upon analysis of a ‘representative’ sample of Electra’s portfolio companies; in reality, they are based on public information covering less than 30pc of the current investment portfolio.”

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