Woodford investors told to expect £142m payout

Investors in the flagship fund formerly run by City star Neil Woodford have been told to expect another multimillion-pound payout, as its managers sold off another fifth of its assets.

Link Fund Solutions said it has managed to find buyers for just under £142 million of assets, which will be returned to investors. It is 19.9% of what was left in the fund on March 10.

Investors have been told to expect a letter in the post detailing how much they will get in the new distribution after March 20. The payment is set to hit their bank accounts on March 25.

Link said in a letter to investors: “It is intended that further capital distributions will be made as and when suitable amounts of cash have been raised from the sale of the remaining assets of the fund.

“At this stage we are unable to advise you of the exact timing and amount of these future capital distributions as this is dependent upon the sale of the fund’s assets.”

It comes just over a month since investors in the LF Equity Income Fund – formerly Woodford Equity Income Fund – got their first £2.1 billion payout. It brings the total paid back to just over £2.3 billion.

Woodford’s fund was thrown into turmoil last year as investors tried to cash out at a rate that the former City star could not keep up with.

He had invested much of the cash the investors had entrusted to him in illiquid assets. These assets, such as shares in companies that are not publicly traded, are difficult to sell off at short notice without taking a big discount.

This meant that when investors came knocking and asked for their cash back, he was unable to sell off assets fast enough. As a result the fund was suspended.