Electra Private Equity slams Sherborne's Bramson for ill-informed claims

Responding to last Friday's letter from Bramson's Sherborne Investors vehicle, which owns a 29.75% stake, the FTSE 250 investment trust's strongly worded rebuttle took issue with several claims and urged investors to vote against resolutions to install Bramson and a business partner to the board at November's planned shareholder meeting.

Bramson had criticised the trust for a lack of board independence, historical underperformance and ignoring his continued suggestions to increase value.

Electra chairman Roger Yates said he was deeply disappointed with Bramson's "wilful ignorance" of the successful formula Electra has employed.

"He has made a series of ill-judged, ill-informed and ill-founded claims about the company and its board - we cannot let this stand. It is also high time Mr Bramson spelt out his plans for Electra. Despite being invested for 21 months, he has consistently refused to do so."

In a response that addressed numerous points in Sherborne's letter with "not true" or "taken out of context", the investment trust provided data to support its claim that Electra's short and long-term performance has been "excellent", including a 12% outperformance of the Morningstar Private Equity Index over one year up to 201% over a decade.

After Sherborne said it would set out in detail its case for improving Electra's approach to risk, governance and shareholder value, the trust noted that the 16 October letter contained "no such detail - only a void of substance as well as multiple inaccuracies", adding that its levels of disclosure and commuication were award-winning.

Electra also highlighted that despite his demand for a non-executive role on the board, Bramson appeared to be "pursuing an agenda which includes interfering in the management of the portfolio", as well as, if its proposals were voted in, obtaining "creeping control" over a disproportionate power over the company without paying a bid premium.

"Sherborne is an activist investor with a short-termist and cost-cutting focus," the response thundered, "this is patently misaligned with the company's strategy; Sherborne's letter does not change this."

Shares in Electra Private Equity were down 0.4% at 3,430p on Wednesday morning, around their all-time high.