There were two very different transatlantic interactions on the Scottish business scene, writes Ian McConnell.

Good news on US flights from Scotland ensured an upbeat start. However, in a different sector, a major Scottish company declared it had reached the "end of the road" with a US hedge fund's "obsession".

Last week started on an upbeat note. And it was a somewhat unexpected moment.

Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar treated passengers boarding the first of American Airlines’ new flights from the Scottish capital to the Big Apple last Monday to a rendition of the “New York, New York” number made famous by Frank Sinatra. As I noted in The Herald last week, it was “impressively tuneful”.

And there seemed much to celebrate in what American Airlines had to say about Scotland.

Demoralisingly, in a completely different sector, there was much to lament on the outcome of a transatlantic interaction.

Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWIT) last Tuesday declared it has “reached the end of the road” with a US hedge fund’s “obsession”.

The investment trust, which had total assets of £857.29 million at January 31 and is run from Edinburgh by Baillie Gifford, announced its intention to put forward a proposal to implement a tender offer for up to 100% of its issued share capital.

It said this was to “provide eligible shareholders with the opportunity to receive a significant initial cash exit and also retain access to the potential future value from EWIT's largest shareholding, SpaceX”, a company founded and led by Elon Musk.

EWIT shareholders have already voted against two attempts by US hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein's Saba Capital Management to oust the investment trust's entire board and instal directors nominated by Saba. The most recent vote was on January 20, when shareholders representing 92.7% of the voted shares not held by Saba rejected the US hedge fund's proposals.

However, Saba returned on February 10 to reveal a third attack.

It proposed the appointment to EWIT’s board of the same three individuals, Gabriel Gliksberg, Michael Joseph, and Jassen Trenkow, at the investment trust’s forthcoming annual meeting as it did in January. The annual meeting must be held by the end of April,

Jonathan Simpson-Dent, who chairs EWIT, said last Tuesday: "We have reached the end of the road with Saba's obsession to break the status quo and its continuing disregard for the expressed wishes of other shareholders.

“This regrettable but necessary step is intended to protect shareholders from being trapped by Saba, offering a significant cash exit close to NAV (net asset value) while preserving exposure to SpaceX until a future liquidity event, after which shareholders would receive a further cash payment.”

He added: “Regrettably, we believe it is only a matter of time before Saba succeeds.”

Mr Simpson-Dent made it plain the “tender offer is not the outcome the board would have chosen under different circumstances”.

And he observed that “shareholders have spoken clearly, twice”, in opposing Saba.

However, he highlighted the regulatory backdrop which currently enables repeated attacks by significant minority shareholders on investment trusts such as EWIT.

Mr Simpson-Dent said: “Frustratingly, the current regulatory framework permits a determined minority shareholder to effectively gain board and managerial control through repeated actions which explicitly oppose the desires of other shareholders.”

The Association of Investment Companies has called for a change in the listing rules in this regard. And the Financial Conduct Authority earlier this month announced it would be bringing forward a review of the listing rules for investment entities, including an assessment of how the rules “ensure that boards support strong shareholder rights and engagement and manage conflicts of interests”.

My column in The Herald on Friday observed: “The EWIT saga surely signals the current listing rules, enabling the same or similar resolutions to be endlessly proposed by a large minority investor until it gets the desired result, are not serving the huge numbers of shareholders in various investment trusts who turned out to oppose Saba.”

Returning to more cordial transatlantic relations, American Airlines vice-president for international and inflight dining operations José A Freig surely provided reasons for both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports to be cheerful.

Mr Freig declared he was “really excited” about adding American Airlines’ first Airbus A321XLR service from Edinburgh - to New York JFK - which will operate until October 24.

Asked about the attractions of Edinburgh for the airline in an exclusive interview with The Herald last Monday, he said: “When we started last year [with the] Philadelphia service, we saw a really good mix of customers going in both directions. It has really become a hot spot for us in Europe.”

And it was fascinating to be given a guided tour by Mr Freig of the A321XLR, with its relatively large business-class cabin with its “lay-flat” seats and sliding doors.

Mr Freig highlighted the flexibility this recent addition to American Airlines’ fleet provided in terms of routes when I asked him about comments in late January from Kam Jandu, chief executive of Glasgow Airport owner AGS Airports, about the possibility of flights between Glasgow and Philadelphia.

The American Airlines executive said: “Yeah, so look, we're always looking at opportunities as we look at our network and the fact that this 321XLR gives us the ability to return to some locations that we serviced before when we had the [Boeing] 757s and the 767s that we retired.

“Certainly, you know, Glasgow is on our list. We don't have an official date as we always evaluate our network but I would say that this aircraft gives us the ability to go back to some of those locations, with Glasgow being one of them of course. But nothing official yet.”

Hopefully, Glasgow Airport can have its own celebratory American Airlines flights launch soon.

Maybe Mr Jandu will be brushing up on the lyrics of Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” but more likely perhaps he will leave the singing to the strikingly accomplished Mr Dewar.

© Herald Scotland