"Based on the preliminary results from last week's shareholder meetings, it is clear that shareholders have rejected both Saba's nominees and its efforts to displace BlackRock as investment advisor to the Funds," BlackRock said in a statement. Saba, run by prominent investor Boaz Weinstein, and BlackRock, the world's biggest asset management company with more than $10 trillion in assets under management, have been locked in battle for months over the future of 10 BlackRock closed end funds. Saba wants investors to elect its nominees to the BlackRock funds' boards and fire BlackRock as manager at some of them. Some $1.4 billion in value could be unlocked at the funds by cutting the funds' discount to their net asset value, he has said. The 10 BlackRock funds jointly oversee roughly $10 billion in assets.

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Persons: Brendan McDermid, BlackRock, Boaz Weinstein, Saba, Weinstein, Svea Herbst, Bayliss, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, BlackRock, Saba Capital Management, Services, BIGZ, ISS, Svea, Thomson Locations: BlackRock, New York City, U.S, Saba