Investors trapped in Neil Woodford’s scandal-ridden fund have received a bittersweet update from administrators who have sold its small and private healthcare stocks but at a significant discount.
Days after the first anniversary of the fund’s suspension, Link, the administrator, said it had sold the health companies in the fund for £224m to Acacia Research Corporation, an American investment firm.
This means the fund now has £224m of cash it will be able to distribute to investors, as the wind up process continues.
However, as of June 3 the portfolio was only worth £444m, including the £224m of cash, compared with £558m before the sale. This shows the healthcare stocks were sold at a substantial discount and the remaining investments have also fallen in value. Investors’ remaining savings are down a fifth as a result.
However, Link said it could not provide a fixed date on when the money would be returned to investors. It said the sale of the stocks to Acacia could take up to six months.
It also provided no update on what would happen with the remaining £220m still invested in illiquid and unlisted stocks. Investment firms BlackRock and Park Hill have been advising Link on the sale process.
Link said: “This agreement with Acacia will enable us to distribute money to investors in due course. We are currently unable to confirm the exact dates but we will write to investors with an update by 29 July.”
Since the decision to close the fund and sack Mr Woodford in October 2019, some £2.3bn has been returned to investors. At least another £224m will follow but it is likely investors will absorb further losses on the remaining £200m of shares.
June 3 marked the one-year anniversary since Mr Woodford was forced to shutter his fund, after too many investors demanded their money back at the same time. The manager had invested too much in difficult-to-sell, small and private companies and could not raise enough cash to pay back dissenting investors.
At the time the fund was worth £3.5bn. Even in the unlikely event that investors receive back the full £444m remaining, the losses incurred throughout the process remain staggeringly high.