ThomasLloyd Group has ‘vigorously’ refuted the allegations made by the board of ThomasLloyd Energy Impact Trust (TLEI ) yesterday, in which the directors urged shareholders to vote against the investment trust’s continuation next month.

In a statement the trust’s Swiss-based impact fund manager said it believed the actions of the board were ‘fundamentally detrimental to shareholder value and to the best interests of shareholders’, which includes the UK Foreign Office with an 18% stake.

‘TL [ThomasLloyd] remains committed to the bright future of the company. TL fails to see how the board of the company can claim it had no alternative but to recommend that shareholders vote against the continuation resolution. TL considers the actions of the board of the company to be self-serving,’ it said.

ThomasLloyd said it would shortly publish detailed information to explain how shareholders would be best served by the closed-end continuing beyond a second year.

‘TL calls on the board of the company to immediately withdraw its recommendation to vote against the continuation resolution.’

Shares in TLEI, a £143m global renewables fund, have been suspended since April after the discovery of massive cost over-runs at the ‘RUMS’ solar park in India had made the construction project economically unviable. The project accounted for 8% of the trust’s net asset value and its discontinuation has left it liable for up to $33.5m in non-complete penalites.

In her statement, the trust’s chair Sue Inglis made it clear the board had lost confidence in the fund manager which it said had failed to provide information on what it knew about the project’s failure.