Neil Woodford shuttered flagship fund to be wound down in shock move

Stricken fund manager Neil Woodford was humiliated on Tuesday after his frozen equity fund was shut down and he was fired as manager.

In a swift and brutal move, administrator Link Fund Solutions took the unprecedented step of winding up the flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund from January onwards.

Link has also removed Woodford with immediate effect after losing faith with his sluggish progress reopening to savers.

Hundreds of thousands have been trapped in the fund since June after Woodford was forced to suspend redemptions following a run on the £3 billion vehicle

The former fund star, 59, had planned to reopen to redemptions in December after repositioning to more liquid FTSE 100 stocks, but that fell behind schedule, prompting Link’s move.

“It is in the best interests of investors for the fund to be wound up on the basis of an ‘orderly realisation’ of the fund’s assets,” it said

The move effectively ends Woodford’s career as a top-flight fund manager and puts the future of his Woodford Investment Management, which employs 40 people, into doubt.

Woodford, who learnt about the decision yesterday afternoon, said: “This was Link’s decision and one I cannot accept.”

The Financial Conduct Authority welcomed the move saying it removed “uncertainty” for investors.

Investors will start getting their money at the end of January once the sell-off kicks off.

The fund will be split into two buckets, listed stocks such as Barratt Developments and harder-to-sell unlisted assets such as Benevolent AI.

Funds giant BlackRock has been appointed to sell the listed assets.

PJT Park Hill, an advisory arm spun out of Blackstone, was already mandated to sell the unlisted assets.

Bids are due on those tomorrow, sources said, but bidders could lowball offers as they know PJT is racing to sell.

Savers are likely to get less than they invested anyway as the fund has declined by 17% since it was launched in 2014 and 28% over 12 months.