Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) has rejigged its board, naming senior independent director Justin Dowley as its new chair with Fiona McBain set to leave the company as it reacts to criticism over its governance and monitoring of unlisted investments.
McBain will step down from her role and the board after the FTSE 100-listed investment trust's 2023 AGM.
Professor Patrick Maxwell will succeed Dowley as the senior independent director while professor Paola Subacchi will retire from her role as a director after the shareholder meeting.
The group also confirmed that professor Amar Bhidé has now left the board and is no longer a director of the company.
McBain’s departure follows a disagreement with Bhidé who stepped down after a clash over new board appointments and its policy of non-listed investments.
Bhidé, a professor of business at Tufts University in Massachusetts and an SMT director since 2020, told the Financial Times he had clashed with chair Fiona McBain over the issues and felt he had no option but to leave.
“I’ve been very concerned about the share price performance and the discount, and trying to get people to understand that there is a structural reason for this,” he told the paper.
Scottish Mortgage, managed by Baillie Gifford, had been one the UK’s most successful trusts over the past decade as bets on technology companies such as Tesla, Amazon and Alibaba have paid off handsomely.
The company also said as part of the board's overall planning it has been conducting a recruitment process to further refresh the board. That process is now well advanced, it added.