Yesterday evening Link contacted investors with further details on today’s distribution from Neil Woodford’s former Equity Income Fund, detailing the charges being incurred as a result of the wind-up process and the fact the fund will move to weekly pricing.
https://equityincome.linkfundsolutions.co.uk/media/eg2godao/letter_to_investors29012020.pdf
Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, comments:
“The new update from Link brings some additional insight in to the winding up process of the fund for investors, especially around the transaction costs involved and the frequency of pricing updates going forwards.
“It looks as if investors will be suffering around £10m of fees and costs to wind up the fund which will be seen as another kick in the teeth for investors who have already seen substantial losses on their investments.
“This update also gives an indication that Park Hill have made little progress on the selling down of the illiquid assets and, while unsurprising, this will be disappointing for investors. With no timescale being given on how long this element is likely to take, investors should brace themselves for a long wait for the remainder of their money.
“Link has also announced the fund price will now only be updated on a weekly basis rather than daily which reflects the reality that little will change in the portfolio and investors should watch the price carefully to see how it is impacted by any revaluation or sale of the remaining assets.
“This update from Link gives some insights to how they have reached this point and the process going forwards but it will be of little comfort to investors who still have money stuck in the fund.”
