Former FTSE 100-listed investment trust Alliance Trust (ATST.L) has urged investors to vote against requisitioned resolutions by activist investor Laxey Partners.

Lesley Knox, chairman of Alliance Trust, said, 'We are focused on managing the Trust in the best interests of these long-term shareholders, not those who are motivated purely to make a short-term gain.

'The board therefore strongly recommends that shareholders vote against these requisitioned resolutions.'

Laxey proposed to introduce a 'rigid discount mechanism' and remove 'scaling up' provisions applicable to investments held in Alliance Trust Savings share schemes.

Alliance Trust said its policy of buying back shares was a better way of managing the discount levels than a rigid mechanism.

It warned a mechanism would impair investment flexibility and impact performance due to having to manage on a more short-term basis.

The investment trust's total expense ratio (TER) would also increase as its cost base would be spread over a smaller asset base and would also impact on its ability to pay a growing dividend over the long-term.

The scaling-up issue - in which the votes of 26,000 Alliance Trust Savings (ATS) investors are cast - has been a contentious one.

Currently, if ATS investors do not vote, their votes are cast in proportion to those that have voted, which Alliance Trust is common practice in the investment trust universe and has encouraged greater participation.

The board said the 'one share, one vote' scheme proposed by Laxey would not have produced different results and refuted suggestions shares held by directors in the ATS scheme influenced results.

According to Alliance Trust, Laxey held a 1.6 per cent stake in the investment trust at 16 March 2011.