Brian Sherman's Aberdeen Leaders has dismissed calls by its second-largest shareholder to wind up the listed investment company or pay out a string of large special dividends, causing fund manager Geoff Wilson to sell his stake in the group and seek opportunistic plays elsewhere in the sector.

Mr Wilson's Wilson Leaders fund has sold its 10.3 per cent stake in Aberdeen and walked away from plans to force a liquidation of Aberdeen's undervalued portfolio and return the capital to investors.