Aberdeen Frontier Markets Investment Company (AIM: AFMC) has confirmed that its shareholders have voted in favour of delisting the company’s shares from trading on AIM, as well as the appointment of Joint Liquidators.

The board announced that the resolutions to wind up the Company and places the Company into voluntary liquidation were voted on and approved by shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting. The shares were cancelled from trading on FTSE AIM All-Share Index with effect from Wednesday 19th August at 7:30am. Results can be found in the below table:

Resolution	Votes For*	%	Votes Against	%	Votes Total	Votes Withheld
1. That the Directors be authorised to cancel the admission of the Company’s shares to trading on AIM	56,292,506	97.87	1,223,681	2.13	57,516,187	7,370
2. That the Company be wound-up voluntarily	56,293,346	97.88	1,216,946	2.12	57,510,292	13,266
3. That the joint liquidators be authorised to divide any part of the Company’s assets in specie as they think fit	56,288,887	97.92	1,197,265	2.08	57,486,152	37,405
4. That the joint liquidators be given discretion to pay any residual sum to a charitable cause if uneconomic to distribute	56,297,175	97.92	1,198,104	2.08	57,495,279	28,278
5. That the joint liquidators are appointed	56,303,899	97.92	1,197,265	2.08	57,501,164	22,393

The investment trust was placed into liquidation on Tuesday 18th August with Jamie Toynton and Ben Rhodes of Grant Thornton Limited being appointed as Joint Liquidators. The Joint Liquidators will seek to distribute the cash proceeds from winding-up the portfolio (less the costs of the proposals and any other specified costs) to the shareholders who appear on the register as at the record date of Monday 17th August 2020.

The trust closed down in line with its discount control policy introduced by the Board in October 2018, which stated that if the trust underperforms its benchmark between 1st July 2018 and 30th June 2020 then it will offer its shareholders the opportunity to exit the trust at the prevailing net asset value (NAV) less any applicable direct costs (including realisation costs of the underlying investments).

The net asset value (NAV) per share as at close of business on Monday 17th August 2020 (including income) was $0.5593 (£0.4255). For comparison, the NAV per share for year ended 30th June 2019 was $0.676 (£0.5325), a 17% decline. The decision to cease activity on the market is due to underperformance against the MSCI Frontier Markets Index benchmark over a two-year period, the current size of the investment trust (around £30m AUM) and the operational costs of running it.

The liquidation of the Aberdeen Frontier Markets investment trust means that there will only be three global Frontier Markets investment trusts that investors can choose from: Blackrock Frontiers (BRFI), Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income Trust (JEFI) and Mobius Investment Trust (MMIT). A full list of Frontier Market Investment Trusts can be found here.