Rebels write off Caledonia

REBELS turned up the heat in the battle to control Caledonia Investments - firing off an angry letter to shareholders two days ahead of a crunch meeting.

Led by former Morgan Grenfell chief Sir John Craven and backed by City bigwigs Hermes and Schroders, the rebels wrote to investors in the private Cayzer Trust, which owns 37.4% of Caledonia.

These investors are expected on Thursday to block rebel calls to break up Caledonia. A break-up would realise close to the full value of the assets.

The rebels have locked horns with new Caledonia chief executive Tim Ingram, claiming investment performance and governance are poor. They accuse Caledonia of unfairly using Cayzer's extraordinary general meeting to dictate its own future.

Sir John calls for Caledonia to work with the rebels to resolve 'this continuing impasse'.

Ingram dismissed the claims. He argues that investment performance and governance is top quality and hopes the outcome of the meeting will 'draw a line in the sand'.