History
As you may recall, it was announced on the 15th October 2019 that Neil Woodford’s flagship fund, namely the Woodford Equity Income fund is to be wound up with effect from 17/01/2020.
Latest
It has today been announced that investors in the LF Equity Income fund (Woodford has been removed from the title), will receive between 0.46p and 0.59p per unit they hold in the fund for the first capital distribution according to Link Fund Solutions (the Fund administrators). Please see the full share class distribution list below:
The payment equates to approximately 70% of the fund’s total value, representing the liquid part of the portfolio that BlackRock Advisers Limited has offloaded already.
Investors will receive confirmation of the total amount they are due by 28/01/2020. The payment will be made “on or around 30 January”, with investors who hold the fund through a platform set to receive theirs “a few days after 30 January due to the time it may take for your platform to process your payment”.
Our Thoughts
This is a good first step for investors in getting some of their capital back. As stated in my original Blog back on the 16th October 2019, the major factor is how will the sale of assets under the less liquid portion of the portfolio be handled. It is important that these assets are not just sold at a lower value to raise capital, as this would impact on the amount of capital investors get back. PJT Partners (UK) Ltd need to take their time in negotiations in order to attempt to get the true worth of the underlying assets held within the portfolio, which they have indicated they will be trying to do.
We will continue to monitor the position and will issue another blog when an announcement is made. As noted previously, our clients are well diversified and are likely to have only a nominal holding in this fund if anything. Diversification helps control the risk.
In the meantime, should you have any queries on this matter, or would like to undertake a financial review of your holdings to better understand how you are invested, please feel free to give us a call on 0151 546 1969.
Carl Mitchell 28/01/2020