Woodford Equity Income Fund to be wound up

Link Asset Services, which administers the fund, said in a letter to investors: “After careful consideration, the decision has now been taken not to re-open the fund and instead to wind it up as soon as practicable.”

The fund was suspended after investors started withdrawing their cash, but the decision has now been made to close it.

Link said: “Whilst progress has been made in relation to repositioning the fund’s portfolio, this has unfortunately not been sufficient to allow reasonable certainty as to when the repositioning would be fully achieved and the fund could be reopened.”

The ‘Woodford’ name will be removed from the fund, with Mr Woodford’s company no longer having any involvement and receiving no further payments, Link told investors.

Winding-up will begin in January.

Neil Woodford issued a statement this morning, which says: “This was Link’s decision and one I cannot accept, nor believe is in the long-term interests of LF Woodford Equity Income Fund investors.”

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Gill Oliver

Gill Oliver is a professionally trained journalist who’s written for The New Statesman, The Bureau for Investigative Journalism, The Daily Mail’s business section This is Money, The Press Association, The Huffington Post plus a host of national magazines, news agencies and trade and industry journals. She’s also spent nine years reporting on the Oxfordshire business and tech scene for The Oxford Times and The Oxford Mail.