Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC (BGS)

Appointment of Directors

Legal Entity Identifier: X5XCIPCJQCSUF8H1FU83

Regulated Information Classification Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under applicable law.

The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Claire Finn and Ms Abigail Rotheroe as non-executive Directors of the Company. Ms Claire Finn will be a non-executive Director of the Company with effect from 1 November 2021 and Ms Abigail Rotheroe with effect from 1 March 2022.

Claire began her career in Japan in 1995 before moving back to the UK in 1999. She worked for Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank in London from 1999 to 2001. In 2001 she joined Henderson Global Investors undertaking roles in client service and product development. In 2005 Claire joined Merrill Lynch Investment Mangers (MLIM) as Vice President of Product Development. MLIM was subsequently bought by BlackRock and Claire moved into the distribution team, rising to the position of Managing Director of Defined Contributions, Unit Linked and Platforms. Claire left BlackRock in 2018 and transitioned to a portfolio career in 2019. She is now a director of The Law Debenture Corporation PLC, Octopus Apollo VCT PLC, Artemis Fund Managers Limited and Sparrows Capital Limited.

Abigail is a CFA^® charterholder whose investment career began at Schroder Capital Management in 1987 as an analyst on the Japanese desk. She worked in Hong Kong for Schroders and then HSBC, managing specialist Asia/Pacific equity portfolios for Japanese clients. On her return to London in 1994, she joined Threadneedle Investments with responsibility for the Threadneedle Asia Growth Fund, Threadneedle Asia and Pacific inc. Japan Growth Fund and the TIML India Fund.  Since 2013 Abigail has been at the forefront of social and impact investing and has published broadly on the subject. She is the Investment Director of Snowball Impact Management, an asset manager that invests responsibly to achieve impact alongside financial returns.

Neil Donaldson, Chairman of Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon commented:

"My fellow Directors and I are delighted to welcome Claire and Abigail to the Board. They have extensive and relevant business and finance experience and their appointments will maintain the Board's depth and breadth."

The Board engaged with the relevant shareholders following the significant number of votes against the re-appointment of Mr Donaldson at the Annual General Meeting. The shareholder concerns related to board composition and were considered in the board succession planning culminating in these appointments.  

The appointments of both Ms Claire Finn and Ms Abigail Rotheroe as directors fall to be ratified by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2022.

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

Baillie Gifford & Co Limited

Managers and Secretaries

29 October 2021