Although decision time is imminent, Saba Capital's fight for the control of seven investment trusts is likely to dominate conversation for weeks to come, in part because there are still so many unknowns.
As it stands, we don't know how many of these battles Saba might win, exactly how the activist's plan might shape up or what might happen in cases where it loses a vote. But the activist's founder, Boaz Weinstein, shed a little more light in a podcast recorded with our team on 17 January, and it's worth reflecting on that.
Saba has already said it would back shareholders in Herald (HRI) getting a cash exit at 99 per cent of net asset value (NAV) if it won – a decision that will be known by the time you read this. It seems it would do something similar for the other trusts, albeit this might not apply to the full market capitalisation. Weinstein said there would be a cash exit on a "substantial amount of liquidity", although he will not necessarily offer the same terms for each trust.