Alliance Trust has revealed two new additions to its board just months after facing a showdown over the make-up of the governing body.
The group, which has its headquarters at West Marketgait in Dundee, announced that former Ignis Asset Management chief executive Chris Samuel and Oxford Investment Partners founder Karl Sternberg had joined the board in a non-executive capacity with immediate effect.
The firm also intimated that long-serving non-executive director John Hylands and senior independent director Alastair Kerr will retire from the board at the trust’s annual general meeting in May.
Mr Sternberg will assume the role of senior independent director on Mr Kerr’s retiral.
The changes come less than six months after the group was forced into a corner by Elliott Advisers, the rebel investor that is the trust’s largest single shareholder.
Just hours before the 2015 AGM was due to be held, the trust agreed a last-minute deal to elect two Elliott-nominated directors, Anthony Brooke and Rory Macnamara, to its board.
In return, Elliott agreed to a hiatus in its activism against the trust for at least a year.
There was anger among shareholders after it was revealed the stand-off between the two parties had cost the trust around £3 million.
Alliance Trust said the new board members had been appointed following consultation with its major shareholders.
By the close of the trust’s 2016 AGM, five of the nine standing board members will have been appointed since last year.
Prior to leading Ignis, Mr Samuel was chief operating officer at Gartmore and Hill Samuel and was a partner at Cambridge Place Investment Management.
Before Oxford, Mr Sternberg was in fund management at Deutsche Asset Management, latterly as global head of equities and chief investment officer for Europe and Asia Pacific.
Chairman Karin Forseke thanked Mr Hylands and Mr Kerr for their “substantial contributions” to the development of the business and said she looked forward to working with the new directors.
“I am delighted that Chris and Karl are joining the board as they both bring extensive knowledge of the industry from their careers in the investment and asset management sector,” she said.
“Investment is at the heart of Alliance Trust and is the key to our future success and I believe their skills and expertise are the ideal complement to an already strong board.”