PRNewswire – Re: Proposal for Election of Directors at the AGM of Altin AG on 22 nd April, 2013.
We would like to introduce Metage Capital Limited as an investment manager managing various client funds which are shareholders in Altin (the “Company”). As shareholders will be aware, Altin is a listed closed-ended fund investing in hedge funds and managed by Alternative Asset Advisors SA, which is a part of the Syz & Co Group.
Metage Capital was responsible for the inclusion on the AGM Agenda of the proposal to elect Jerome Muller and Jean-Michel Clerc as members of the Board. Our proposal appears under Item 6 of the agenda without explanation, and we felt it appropriate to put forward to shareholders our reasons for this request.
Funds under our management have been shareholders in the Company for several years and over this period we have become frustrated by the discount to net asset value at which the shares of the Company persistently trade. For reference, according to Bloomberg, the Company’s share price has averaged a 30.1% discount to its net asset value over the last 12 months. This is the widest discount exhibited by any major listed closed-end fund of hedge funds of which we are aware.
Discounts are a commonplace problem in the closed-end fund world and certainly not unique to Altin but there are many well-tested means of addressing them. We have been disappointed by the lack of success experienced by the existing Board of directors in bringing the price to better reflect the fair value of the underlying assets. Indeed, the subject of the discount merited only a single sentence in the recently-released Annual Report, pointing out that it had averaged 29% during 2012. This is in contrast to the many statements in previous years drawing attention to the Board’s “strong commitment” to ensuring that the share price remains in line with the NAV.
As a result of the above, we believe that the Company would benefit from a strengthening of its Board through the inclusion of the two candidates we have put forward for election at the forthcoming AGM. Jerome Muller has experience as a manager of a portfolio of hedge funds and as a director of both open and closed-ended alternative investment vehicles. Jean-Michel Clerc is a specialist Swiss tax lawyer with extensive experience as a consultant to and director of various multinational companies. As such, we believe that each of these individuals would bring highly relevant experience to the Board of the Company and hope that you will join us in supporting them.
A brief biography of each is attached. Copies of their full curricula vitae are available on request.
We note in passing that the Company proposes the election to the Board of an alternative candidate, a MrRoger Ruegg. We are unable to venture any view on Mr Ruegg as no information about him has been provided to shareholders.
