Shareholders of two more investment trusts, Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust PLC and Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust PLC, have rejected the requisitioned proposals put forward by US hedge fund Saba Capital to replace both boards.
The board of the Baillie Gifford-managed trust said votes cast representing 78.4% of its shares, with roughly 98.5% of the non-Saba votes being against the requisitioned resolutions.
Results from the Baillie Gifford US Growth meeting showed that 65.6% of the total were against all the proposals, a winning majority.
For Keystone, it was only 60%, but this was still a majority against Saba's resolutions, and excluding the votes cast by Saba, less than 1% were in favour of the requisition.
Last month, the first vote took place, with Herald Investment Trust shareholders also rejecting the Saba proposals, with an 80% voter turnout.
Tom Burnet, chair of Baillie Gifford US Growth, said: "Faced with the threat to their investment posed by Saba's self-serving and destructive proposals, shareholders have mobilised and acted decisively to protect their investment. The result is unambiguous and conclusive."
He said the board was "delighted" by the number of retail shareholders who have voted.
Following this result, Burnet said the board looked forward to "executing our strategy in a supportive macro environment and continuing to engage with all our shareholders".
Keystone's board said it would "immediately refocus their efforts on delivering a full cash exit for shareholders", which had been proposed prior to the requisition.
Karen Brade, chair of Keystone Positive Change board, said: "I would like to thank all the shareholders who stood up to vote in support of the Board’s recommendation. Of the votes cast, nearly 99% of the non-Saba shareholders rejected its proposals.
"Now our focus returns to delivering the proposed scheme that offers an uncapped cash exit and/or a rollover into a more liquid fund with a similar global impact strategy. We are confident that this remains in the best interests of shareholders.
"The Board intends to re-engage with stakeholders without delay in order to implement this Scheme as soon as practicable."
Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, said "retail shareholders have come out in force to have their say on the proposals put forward by Saba".
He said the voting figures "show that shareholder democracy is alive and well, and when important matters are on the line, ordinary investors are willing to come out to vote".
Investment platforms AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor have made it easier in recent years for their customers to vote in meetings.
Investors who held shares in the trusts via platforms were emailed with alerts about the vote and providing them with clear information on what was happening and how they could have their say.
Khalaf said that while the outcome of all the votes was not yet known, Saba’s intervention in the investment trust sector "has clearly raised questions about how persistent discounts can be addressed" and it seemed that the proposals were unwanted by huge swathes of the investing populace.