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Woodford investors to start getting money back on 20 January

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
16/12/2019

Investors trapped in Neil Woodford’s former Equity Income fund will start getting their money back from 20 January, administrators have confirmed.  

In a letter to investors, Link Fund Solutions said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has approved its request to wind up the fund.

It said the winding up process will begin on 18 January and capital distribution will be calculated on 6 January. Link will write to investors on 13 January to tell them how much they will get back.

The letter also confirmed that the fund has been renamed the LF Equity Income fund with immediate effect.

The once-popular fund has fallen 18.6% since it was first suspended on 3 June. It is down 3.2% since Woodford was sacked as manager on 15 October.

Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at investment platform AJ Bell, said: “The latest letter to investors at least gives them a date when they can expect the first return of their money, with the payment being made on 20th January.

“Investors will get a little over half the current fund value back on that date, representing £1.65bn. This values the total fund at £2.95bn, with the valuation having been written down further in the past few months in the unquoted part of the portfolio.

“The valuation now represents a near 19% loss for investors since the fund gated at the start of June.”

Link said BlackRock, the firm appointed to sell the firm’s listed assets, has sold £1.65bn of stock representing 56% of the overall fund.

It said it and specialist broker Park Hill are exploring options to sell the fund’s unlisted stock but is unable to confirm when these assets will be sold.