John Glover reviews a year of surprises
One of the techiest dealmaking battles kicked off in 2024, ran throughout 2025, and concluded in spring this year. Or so it might appear.
In the annals of activist campaigns, few end with the target politely handing the aggressor an empty envelope and walking off with the silver. Yet here we are.
Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital spent two years circling Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, an £800m trust.
Weinstein had a 30 per cent plus stake amassed with the patience of Job, two shareholder revolts repelled – the second by a withering 93 per cent ‘no’ – and a third assault in the works. One admires the conviction, if not entirely the arithmetic.
On March 10, the Baillie Gifford EWIT board, chaired by Jonathan Simpson-Dent, executed a velvet-gloved coup de grâce: a 100 per cent tender offer dismantling the trust on its own terms. Shareholders can exit every last one, while the board ring-fences the real prize: a 16.6 per cent SpaceX holding in a £782m portfolio.
Elon Musk might not be popular in certain places, but his space satellite business and the opportunities for both defence and civil purposes, not to mention the possibility of future data centres in space, are mouth-watering prospects for many investors.
Eighty-five per cent in cash upfront at close to net asset value; the remaining 15 per cent deferred until SpaceX’s next liquidity event, expected within 12 months at whispered valuations of $1.5 trillion. Saba demanded liquidity. They got it. Just not the version that included the moonshot.
Saba demanded liquidity. They got it. Just not the version that included the moonshot
Saba’s playbook called for a full cash exit, sell everything, SpaceX included.
The board served up something demonstrably superior: genuine choice for shareholders, preserved exposure to the most consequential private company on earth, and zero concessions.
Two years of Weinstein insisting the board failed fiduciary duty, answered with an offer that outbids the activist on shareholder goodwill and spirits away the crown jewel on the way out. The directors are tendering their own shares.
The language, “regrettable but necessary,” “end of the road,” is the measured phrasing of people who have already won and are being gracious about it.
The Association of Investment Companies has called for Financial Conduct Authority scrutiny of activist tactics in closed-end funds. Regulators will find this file instructive.
In the grand Scottish tradition of winning arguments without raising one’s voice, this ranks as one of the most satisfyingly ruthless unravellings the sector has seen in years.
Scottish Mortgage: The Baillie Gifford Trust doing it differently
Scottish Mortgage continued its buyback programme, adding to the £2.5bn-plus repurchased since Elliott Associates arrived in 2024. Still at roughly a 10 per cent discount, but moving in the right direction. Two Baillie Gifford trusts, same pressure, two entirely different responses. Shareholders in both are watching the other’s outcome with considerable interest.
Wood Group falls to Sidara
Scottish Mortgage continued its buyback programme, adding to the £2.5bn-plus repurchased since Elliott Associates arrived in 2024. Still at roughly a 10 per cent discount, but moving in the right direction. Two Baillie Gifford trusts, same pressure, two entirely different responses. Shareholders in both are watching the other’s outcome with considerable interest.
Harbour Energy raises its sights
No drama, and none needed. Edinburgh-headquartered Harbour Energy lifted its 2026 production guidance to 475–500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day following early output from its $3.2bn Gulf of Mexico acquisition and a pending $170m North Sea bolt-on. Where Wood was consolidated, Harbour is doing the consolidating across four continents.
Notable Scottish M&A deals from 2025 include:
SP Smart Meter Assets: £900m acquisition of the Glasgow-based company by Macquarie Specialised Asset and Finance from parent company, Iberdrola.
Marlowe acquisition: Acquired by Glasgow-based MITIE Group for £366m.
Wordsmith AI: Edinburgh-based legal tech start-up raised £18.5m Series A round led by Index Ventures, taking valuation above $100m.
Denovo Business Intelligence: Glasgow-based legal software firm sold to Australian group LEAP.
Arch Henderson: Scotland-based maritime engineers acquired by Royal Haskoning DHV in March.
Read John Glover’s Easter Deals Review here.
