AN announcement this morning could spell the beginning of the end for the #734m Scottish American Investment Company (Saints) in its current form and a bitter blow for its manager, Stewart Ivory, writes Ian McConnell.

Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Saints' biggest institutional shareholder with about 6%, is believed to be behind a move to force the poorly-performing investment trust to offer discontented investors a cash exit.

But it was not clear last night whether it had sold out to, or was acting in concert with, an arbitrage fund, possibly Liverpool Partners. A concert party would need a stake of more than 10% to requisition an extraordinary meeting and force a vote on restructuring.

One senior industry insider said: ''The strong belief is they (Saints) are going to be forced to fall on their sword very soon and CSFB are behind it.''

Another said: ''A stake has been accumulated by somebody not terribly helpful for their cause. There may be requisitions or requirements for action.''

Saints, founded in 1873, was the first investment company to be formed in Edinburgh.

An attack on the international fund would be extremely bad news for Charlotte Square-based Stewart Ivory. The trust accounts for close to one quarter of Stewart Ivory's funds under management.

It would also be a blow to John Thomson, the former chief investment manager at Standard Life who was recruited as Stewart Ivory's managing director in December 1997. He has an equity stake in the investment house.

Stewart Ivory director Teddy Tulloch, who manages Saints, said last night: ''We will put an announcement out tomorrow morning.''