Link Fund Solutions Ltd, the authorised corporate director of the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund, has decided not to try to re-open the fund and wants to wind it up as soon as practicable, the better to return cash to investors quickly. The Financial Conduct Authority expects the winding-up to begin in mid-January.

On 3 June, after an unhealthy rush of redemptions, LFS decided to suspend dealings in the Woodford Equity Income Fund. Had it not done so, the fund might have been forced to sell off its assets at knock-down prices to meet redemptions.

The suspension was designed to give Woodford Investment Management Ltd, the investment manager of the fund, time to fill the fund’s portfolio with more sellable investments. This would have allowed the fund, upon the lifting of its suspension, to deal with requests for redemption. LFS wanted to complete this exercise by early December this year, but decided that it could not. It set various deadlines for the rebalancing of the fund but progress has been bad. The FCA, which is rather fatigued by the whole affair, is welcoming the removal of uncertainty that LFS’s decision provides. It believes that distributions of monies to investors are likely to begin in January, after it has given the process its approval.

LFS has appointed BlackRock Advisors to help it sell the fund’s assets. A specialist brokerage called PJT Partners will continue to help the firm sell the fund’s less easily sold assets. Woodford Investment Management Ltd will no longer be the investment manager of the fund, which will be renamed as a result.