US-based asset manager BlackRock has sold over half of the stocks worth £1.7bn in Woodford Equity Income fund.
Background
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Earlier this year, the £3bn Oxford based Equity Income fund was suspended from trading after a surge in investor withdrawals.
This October, Neil Woodford closed Woodford Investment Management after being dismissed as the manager of its flagship fund.
Administrator Link Fund Solutions said that the fund will be wound up and nominated BlackRock and PJT Park Hill to offload its assets.
BlackRock was tasked with overseeing the fund’s more liquid stocks while Park Hill was made responsible for managing the less easy to trade stocks.
Woodford also stepped down from the role of manager of the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT).
Soon, Schroder Investment Management said that it will assume the management of WPCT.
Update
In an update, Link said that Blackrock sold 79% of the liquid Woodford stocks referred to as Portfolio A and 56% of the overall portfolio.
The money from the disposal has been re-invested in FTSE 100 index instruments, money market funds, as well as government securities, among others.
The administrator noted that the remaining assets to be offloaded are less liquid.
“As a result we anticipate that selling these remaining assets in Portfolio A may take longer than it took to realise the assets sold to date,” the administrator noted.
The fund will now operate under the name LF Equity Income and start winding up on 18 January 2020.
The first payment is expected to be calculated on 6 January 2020, with the first payment expected to be delivered to investors by 20 January 2020.
PJT is said to be still exploring opportunities to offload the less liquid assets.
