NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - BlackRock ( BLK ) won a fight with

hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein this week when shareholders

voted at four of its closed-end funds to keep the asset

manager's directors in place and retain it as the manager, new

data released on Friday show.

Weinstein's Saba Capital Management, a large owner in

BlackRock's ( BLK ) closed-end funds, and BlackRock ( BLK ), 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 ( BLK ) closed-end funds.

Saba wanted investors to replace the BlackRock ( BLK ) directors by

electing its nominees to the funds' boards. It also wanted

investors to fire BlackRock ( BLK ) as manager at some of the funds.

"Shareholders rejected Saba's efforts to unseat BlackRock ( BLK ) as

investment adviser and voted to support the Board's nominees at

several funds," Glenn Hubbard, Chair of the Boards of BlackRock

Closed-End Funds said in a statement. "For the second year in a

row, Saba has failed to convince shareholders that Saba will

deliver more value than the funds' current stewardship and

management teams," he added.

Saba was not immediately available for comment.

Investors voted at four BlackRock ( BLK ) funds this week (

) after having voted at six (,

and) last week.

Meetings at and have been adjourned until

next month due to a failure to achieve quorum. Saba Capital

Management did not secure enough votes to replace directors or

fire the fund manager at any of the eight funds.

The preliminary vote count is subject to final certification

by the independent inspector of elections, BlackRock ( BLK ) said.

Saba has cited poor performance as the reason change is

needed at the funds which jointly manage roughly $10 billion.

Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, don't issue or

redeem new shares, which can leave them trading above or below

the value of the securities held by the fund.

For months, Saba has argued that investors will benefit when

the discount to the BlackRock ( BLK ) funds' underlying assets is shrunk

and that BlackRock ( BLK ) should buy back shares from investors which

could unlock some $1.4 billion in value.

BlackRock ( BLK ) said it has taken action to improve performance

and that its directors are better choices than Saba's nominees.

The battle between BlackRock ( BLK ), which manages money for retail

investors and pension funds and advises governments, and

Weinstein, who most recently made headlines by last year when he

and other prominent investors tried to buy hedge fund Sculptor

Capital Management after the company agreed to sell to someone

else, is shining light on an often overlooked part of the mutual

fund industry.

Saba has taken the fight against BlackRock ( BLK ) to court and key

rulings came this week.

BlackRock ( BLK ) was advised by JPMorgan Chase, Sidely Austin LLP,

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Stradley Ronon, and Georgeson.