Directorate Change

RNS Number : 8710J

Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC

07 December 2018

 

Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC

Appointment of Director

The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Jamie Skinner as a non-executive Director of Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC ('the Company') with effect from 7 December 2018.

Jamie Skinner is a qualified accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Jamie joined Cazenove & Co in 1989 as a corporate finance executive working principally on investment companies and also other sector IPO activity, and in 1995 he was appointed Managing Director of the Johannesburg office. In 1999 Jamie joined Martin Currie Investment Management Limited as a director and in 2014 was appointed Head of Client Services. Jamie served as President and CEO of The China Fund, Inc. until 2012, President and CEO of The Taiwan Fund, Inc. until 2014 and President of the Martin Currie Business Trust until 2015. Jamie also served on the boards of Martin Currie, Inc. and the Martin Currie Japan Absolute Return Fund up to his retirement from Martin Currie on 31 July 2018.

Jamie is a non-executive director of Ediston Property Investment Company plc and the Asian Opportunities Absolute Return Fund Limited and Audit Chair of the Ashoka India Equity Trust plc.

Neil Donaldson, Chairman of Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon commented:

"My fellow Directors and I are delighted to welcome Jamie to the Board. Jamie has many years of experience in Asian markets and his extensive knowledge will be of great benefit to the Board and to the Managers."

The appointment of Mr Skinner falls to be ratified by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2019.

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.13, the Company advises that in his former capacity as one of the lay trustees of the Martin Currie pension scheme, Mr Skinner has been the subject of public criticism by The Pensions Regulator ('the Regulator') (albeit not personally named) pursuant to a Section 89 intervention report issued on 28 September 2018.  

The report relates to the Regulator's investigation into the status of the scheme following the acquisition of the Martin Currie group by Legg Mason in 2014, and the management of the potential conflict of interest of the lay trustees as shareholders in the group being sold (which were addressed at the time by excluding them from the sale negotiations). As part of the Regulator's intervention, a new independent professional trustee was appointed and Mr Skinner, as a conflicted lay trustee, stepped down and agreed to refrain from taking on other occupational pension scheme trusteeships.

The Regulator has now granted final clearance to the improvements for scheme members agreed by the Martin Currie group since the Regulator's intervention.

There is no other information is required to be disclosed under section 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.

Baillie Gifford & Co Limited

Managers and Secretaries

7 December 2018

 

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