Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (LSE:USA) spent the autumn fighting a third attempt by Saba Capital to change its board, while its private holdings and solid 12-month returns drew fresh attention.

Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust's Annual General Meeting on 23 October was the culmination of a campaign that dominated the autumn for the trust. The activist hedge fund Saba Capital, which holds about 29% of the shares, sought three board seats for its nominees Jason Chen, Thomas McGlade and James Waterlow, in what was its third attempt to replace the board. Sessa Capital, which supports the campaign, had raised its stake to 7.7% by the end of September, bringing the combined holding to about 36.7%.

The shares traded at 341p on 6 November, compared with 388p on 5 October.

Chair Tom Burnet and senior independent director Sue Inglis urged shareholders to reject the nominees, arguing that their election could lead to the replacement of Baillie Gifford and the end of a strategy that combines public and private US growth companies. According to the board, it offered Saba a cash exit at about 99.75% of net asset value, with the manager covering Transaction Costs other than portfolio realisation expenses, and Saba rejected that proposal. Investec analyst Alan Brierley framed the decision as one between preserving the trust's distinctive proposition and handing influence to Saba without knowing what would follow.

A solid year, a weaker five

Performance has been a central part of the argument. At 30 September, the trust (LSE:USA) recorded a one-year share price total return of 41.6% and a NAV return of 32.3%, compared with 17.3% from the S&P 500 in sterling. The three-year figures were 157.4% and 107.4%, against 70.5% for the index.

Five-year numbers tell a different story. The share price has returned 20.4% and the NAV 19.8% over that period, well behind the S&P 500's 93.6%, a reflection of the sell-off in Growth Stocks in 2022 and 2023.

At the end of September, the NAV stood at 395.27p and the shares at 383p, a discount of 3.1%.

Private Assets and SpaceX

The portfolio's private holdings have been a focus for both sides. SpaceX was the largest position at the end of September at 9.6% of total assets, ahead of Anthropic at 9.1%, Nvidia at 7.5% and Stripe at 7.2%. Amazon, Zipline, Shopify, Cloudflare, Databricks and Meta Platforms completed a top ten that represented 54.2% of the portfolio.

Unlisted businesses accounted for 32.9% of total assets across 26 companies at the end of September, against a limit of 50% measured at the time of investment. That compares with about 45% at the end of May, when SpaceX alone accounted for 16.3% of total assets. In June, the company (LSE:USA) told the market that the value of its SpaceX holding had been adjusted upward after the rocket maker confirmed its initial public offering price, and that NAV stood at 343.91p on 3 June.

Commentators have noted the less transparent valuations and lower Liquidity that come with private assets, and that a good deal of the trust's value depends on funding-round assumptions and eventual exits. For this FTSE 250 constituent, the coming weeks should clarify both the composition of the board and the implications for its unusual mix of listed and private growth companies.