Shareholders Reject Saba’s Proposal to
Terminate BlackRock at BCAT, BFZ, BIGZ, BMEZ, ECAT
Saba Failed to Seat Any Nominees at Eight
Closed-End Funds
MPA’s Full Board Reelected, Defeating Saba’s
Seven Nominees
BFZ Shareholders Support the Board’s Trustees
Over Saba’s Nominees for Second Consecutive Year
BlackRock Advisors, LLC (“BlackRock”) announced today that
BlackRock will remain in place as investment adviser at five
closed-end funds where dissident shareholder, Saba Capital
Management, L.P. (“Saba”), had put forth a termination proposal,
and the current Board members will continue to steward the eight
funds where Saba had proposed nominees, according to the
preliminary voting results of the 2024 Annual Meetings of
Shareholders (the “Annual Meetings”) of the following funds:
- BlackRock Capital Allocation Term Trust (NYSE: BCAT)
- BlackRock California Municipal Income Trust (NYSE: BFZ)
- BlackRock Innovation and Growth Term Trust (NYSE: BIGZ)
- BlackRock Health Sciences Term Trust (NYSE: BMEZ)
- BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust (NYSE: ECAT)
- BlackRock MuniHoldings New York Quality Fund, Inc. (NYSE:
MHN)
- BlackRock MuniYield Pennsylvania Quality Fund (NYSE: MPA)
- BlackRock MuniYield New York Quality Fund, Inc. (NYSE:
MYN)
“Shareholders rejected Saba’s efforts to unseat BlackRock as
investment adviser and voted to support the Board’s nominees at
several funds. For the second year in a row, Saba has failed to
convince shareholders that Saba will deliver more value than the
funds’ current stewardship and management teams,” said R. Glenn
Hubbard, Chair of the Boards of BlackRock Closed-End Funds.
“We continue to believe that the governance of closed-end funds,
in comparison to operating companies, is fundamentally different
and requires specific protections against assembly-line activism.
These proxy campaigns have illustrated just how vulnerable
closed-end funds are to a single, vocal, deep-pocketed activist,
whose point of view on the funds’ strategies and governance does
not align with other shareholders and their investment objectives.
The majority of votes for Saba’s proposals and nominees came from
Saba’s own shares. Unfortunately, Saba continues to attempt to buy
enough votes to drown out the voices of tens of thousands of
individual investors who have again rejected their self-serving
agenda,” added Hubbard.
Shareholders Demonstrated Strong
Support for BlackRock and the Board’s Nominees
- Saba’s attempt to terminate BlackRock as manager of five funds
failed.
- At MPA, the full Board defeated Saba, with all of the Board’s
nominees receiving more votes than any Saba nominee.
- At BFZ, the Board’s nominees were elected over Saba’s nominees
for the second consecutive year, and Saba’s proposal to terminate
BlackRock as investment advisor of the fund failed.
- At MHN and MYN, the Board’s nominees received almost twice as
many votes as Saba’s nominees.
Saba Received Little Support Beyond
Their Own Votes
When Saba’s votes are excluded, the results show little
shareholder support for Saba. Across all termination and director
proposals, individual investors and institutions alike voted
overwhelmingly with BlackRock.
Termination Proposals
- At the three biggest funds, BCAT, BIGZ and ECAT, less than 5%
of shares outstanding were voted with Saba for termination, with
approximately 3% of shares outstanding voting with Saba at
ECAT.
- At BFZ and BMEZ, less than 10% of shares outstanding were voted
with Saba for termination, with only 6% of shares outstanding
voting with Saba at BMEZ.
Board Nominees
- At all funds, less than 11% of shares outstanding were voted
with Saba in favor of Saba’s nominees.
- At BCAT, the Board’s nominees received more than 20 times as
many votes as Saba’s nominees.
- At MPA, the Board’s nominees received 10 times as many votes as
Saba’s nominees.
- At BMEZ and MYN, the Board’s nominees received nearly five
times as many votes as Saba’s nominees.
- At BFZ and MHN, the Board’s nominees received approximately
three times as many votes as Saba’s nominees.
- At BIGZ and ECAT, some Board nominees received nearly twice as
many votes, while others received seven times as many votes as
Saba’s nominees.
The preliminary vote count is subject to final certification by
the independent inspector of elections. The final vote results will
be included in the funds’ next annual or semi-annual report to
shareholders, as applicable.
The 2024 Annual Meetings of Shareholders of BlackRock New York
Municipal Income Trust (NYSE: BNY) and BlackRock Science and
Technology Term Trust (NYSE: BSTZ) have each been adjourned until
July 16, 2024, due to lack of quorum and to allow shareholders
additional time to vote.
About BlackRock
BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience
financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading
provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build
savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing
easier and more affordable. For additional information on
BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate.
Availability of Fund Updates
BlackRock will update performance and certain other data for the
funds on a monthly basis on their website in the “Closed-end Funds”
section of www.blackrock.com, as well as certain other material
information as necessary from time to time. Investors and others
are advised to check the website for updated performance
information and the release of other material information about the
funds. This reference to BlackRock’s website is intended to allow
investors public access to information regarding the funds and does
not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website in
this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, and other statements that BlackRock or the
funds may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with
respect to the funds’ or BlackRock’s future financial or business
performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements
are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,”
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“sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or
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or similar expressions.
BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject
to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over
time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to
update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and
future results could differ materially from historical
performance.
With respect to the funds, the following factors, among others,
could cause actual events to differ materially from forward-looking
statements or historical performance: (1) changes and volatility in
political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate
environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital
markets, which could result in changes in demand for the funds or
in the funds’ net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute
investment performance of the funds and their investments; (3) the
impact of increased competition; (4) the unfavorable resolution of
any legal proceedings; (5) the extent and timing of any
distributions or share repurchases; (6) the impact, extent and
timing of technological changes; (7) the impact of legislative and
regulatory actions and reforms, and regulatory, supervisory or
enforcement actions of government agencies relating to the funds or
BlackRock, as applicable; (8) terrorist activities, international
hostilities, health epidemics and/or pandemics and natural
disasters, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic
and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or
BlackRock; (9) BlackRock’s ability to attract and retain highly
talented professionals; (10) the impact of BlackRock electing to
provide support to its products from time to time; and (11) the
impact of problems at other financial institutions or the failure
or negative performance of products at other financial
institutions.
Annual and Semi-Annual Reports and other regulatory filings of
the funds with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are
accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and on
BlackRock’s website at www.blackrock.com, and may discuss
these or other factors that affect the funds. The information
contained on BlackRock’s website is not a part of this press
release.
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