Activist investor Saba Capital has escalated its campaign against London-listed flexible office provider Workspace Group (WKP), demanding the trust sell off its entire property portfolio at pace.
The New York-based hedge fund, led by founder Boaz Weinstein, published a sharply worded open letter calling on Workspace to “pursue an orderly and accelerated disposal programme” to unlock value for shareholders.
Saba partner Paul Kazarian warned that Workspace’s recently overhauled strategy was fraught with “considerable execution risk” and would take several years to deliver any meaningful return for investors.
“Shareholder value can be realised more quickly and with substantially lower execution risk by prioritising much more significant property sales with the proceeds utilised in share buybacks over large-scale reinvestment,” Kazarian wrote in the letter.
The hedge fund, which holds a 24.7 per cent stake in Workspace making it the trust’s second-largest shareholder, also demanded the board launch a share buyback programme to support the stubbornly low share price.
Workspace shares have fallen around 60 per cent since 2021, weighed down by a sector-wide property trust downturn and investor preference for permanent office arrangements over flexible workspace solutions.
Saba first called for Workspace to be broken up months ago, and previously demanded the removal of all six non-executive directors, including chairman Duncan Owen, to force through its preferred strategy.
Since Saba launched its campaign, Workspace has installed a new executive team who earlier this month repositioned the business as an “earnings-focused” operation, vowing to reinvest disposal proceeds back into the portfolio.
That approach runs directly counter to Saba’s demands, and the hedge fund has now set out a detailed three-phase disposal roadmap it believes provides a cleaner route to shareholder value.
“We have identified a disposal roadmap comprising three distinct tranches: an initial group of 21 priority non-core assets, a second phase of 19 assets, and a final opportunity-led portfolio of 16 assets,” Kazarian wrote.
“This framework provides a clear pathway to realising value while retaining flexibility to respond to market conditions,” he added, outlining a plan that would eventually lead to the trust’s full wind-down.
Saba is currently engaged in a broader war on what it regards as underperforming British investment trusts, having recently orchestrated the effective downfall of Edinburgh Worldwide and Impax Environmental Markets.
The hedge fund also oversaw the transfer of Herald Investment Trust to Aberdeen, cementing its reputation as one of the most disruptive forces in the UK’s listed investment company sector.
Kazarian confirmed Saba would press ahead with its push to replace Workspace’s board with the fund’s own nominees, with a vote scheduled for the company’s annual general meeting in July.