(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. declared victory in its months-long proxy battle with Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital Management, saying holders of five closed-end funds with a combined $8 billion rejected the activist’s effort to terminate the firm as investment adviser.

Preliminary vote tallies from the funds’ annual shareholder meetings this month show BlackRock will remain their manager, the firm said in a statement Friday. And at eight funds where Saba proposed nominees, the current board members will remain as stewards, BlackRock said.

Weinstein said at an investing conference this week that his activism campaign was drawing strong support for its nominees at one of the funds, Innovation & Growth Term Trust. “The shareholders have spoken: We won,” he said. Still, he added, BlackRock had implemented voting rules to give itself an advantage.

Shareholders rejected Saba’s proposal to terminate BlackRock in that fund, as well as Capital Allocation Term Trust, ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust, California Municipal Income Trust and Health Sciences Term Trust, according to New York-based BlackRock.

Saba has spent years and billions of dollars buying up closed-end funds trading at steep discounts and pressuring managers to close the gap via measures including tender offers. This is the second year that Saba waged proxy campaigns against the money-management giant’s funds. This time, Saba has targeted 10 BlackRock-run funds for boardroom changes.

According to BlackRock, fund holders backed existing board members at the five funds, as well as MuniHoldings New York Quality Fund, MuniYield Pennsylvania Quality Fund and MuniYield New York Quality Fund. Annual meetings for the New York Municipal Income Trust and Science and Technology Term Trust were adjourned until July.

A representative for Saba had no immediate comment. 

The firm is also suing BlackRock over a bylaw Saba claims will restrict its voting rights in a fund. On Tuesday, a federal judge declined to block BlackRock from employing the rule, but rejected the asset manager’s request to throw out the case. 

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