Should the Trust reach the £800m total, it will stand as the 40^th biggest investment trust in the UK – and make it way onto the FTSE 250. When launched in February this year, the Patient Capital Trust had a target launch size of £200m; demand was so high, however, that this was increased to £500m within a month. Now, this total is to be increased by a further £300m. The offer closes on April 17 and trading starts on April 21.

“Over the past few days it has become clear that the concept of investing patient capital in early-stage and early-growth businesses has captured investors’ imagination – so much so that we may exceed £500m during the offer period,” commented Craig Newman, chief executive of Woodford Investment Management.

“We are extremely excited by the level of support we are getting from investors and where we can, we want to avoid scaling back investors’ applications. While we won’t know how much the trust will raise until the offer closes, what we do know is that Neil and his team are very comfortable managing the investment strategy and deploying the eventual initial capital raised in line with the time frame set out at launch.”

Reacting to the news, Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown said the additional allocation “shows the strength of the Woodford brand and the interest in this long term investment opportunity.”

Dampier believes the extended allocation “should mean investors will benefit from a better allocation and potentially will receive everything they apply for.” However, he also notes that an additional £300m “doesn’t change the fundamental long term nature of this investment.”

“Whether Woodford is able to raise the full £800 million is yet to be seen,” Dampier concludes. “If he does it would make the company around the 40th biggest investment trust in the UK, a constituent of the FTSE 250 and a similar size to Fidelity European Values.”