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Update regarding your holding in Woodford Equity Income Fund
On 15 October 2019, Link Fund Solutions Ltd (Authorised Corporate Director of the fund) announced that it will not seek to re-open the Woodford Equity Income Fund. Instead, Link are seeking Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval to wind-up the fund as soon as practicable as they consider this to be in the best interests of all investors. Winding-up the fund will allow the return of money to investors through a number of distributions, likely to begin in January 2020. This means investors should receive some of their money back sooner than had the fund remained suspended for a longer period.
Reminder of the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income Fund
On 3 June 2019, Link Fund Solutions Ltd (Link) suspended dealings in the Woodford Equity Income Fund until December 2019 in order to protect all investors in the fund, following an increased level of redemptions. The suspension was designed to give Woodford Investment Management Ltd time to reposition the fund’s portfolio into more easily sold investments - allowing the fund to then meet redemption requests.
Why is the fund being wound up and how does this affect me?
Since the suspension, the FCA has had frequent contact with Link Fund Solutions Ltd. Although progress has been made in relation to repositioning the fund, this has not been deemed sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that this would be fully achieved for the fund to be re-opened in December. Link, therefore, decided it is in the best interests of all investors to seek to wind-up the Woodford Equity Income Funds rather than continue to reopen the fund.
A fund winding-up means it will close and money will be returned to you. Returning money takes place in instalments as the assets in the fund are sold. The amount you will receive will depend on the fund’s value and the amount raised by selling the fund’s assets. If assets are sold for lower prices, you will receive less from the winding-up process and this also may be less than you originally invested.
We will continue to keep you informed on the status of Woodford Equity Income Fund, as and when there are updates released from Link Fund Solutions Ltd or the FCA.
What if I also hold the Woodford Income Focus Fund?
All trading in the Woodford Income Focus Fund has been suspended - this means that this fund currently cannot be traded.
On 15 October 2019, Woodford Investment Management Limited (the Fund’s investment manager) informed of its resignation from its role. In response to this and with concerns of meeting resultant redemption requests from investors, Link Fund Solutions Ltd (the Authorised Corporate Director of the Fund) suspended dealing in this fund until further notice. All deals placed and accepted prior to the suspension will be settled. Link Fund Solutions Ltd (Link) consider this suspension to be in the best interests of all investors.