Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at AJ Bell, comments on the latest letter to investors in the Woodford Equity Income fund:
“The latest update from Link on the Woodford saga will test the patience of investors with the indication that it is going to take some while longer to fully wind up the fund. While a third distribution will hopefully be forthcoming towards the end of August following the sale of some of the healthcare assets to Acacia, it looks as around £200m of assets remain to be sold and Link have indicated that selling this highly illiquid rump may take longer than it has taken to get this far. As it has been seven months from the start of the wind up process, it is feasible that this saga could drag on well into next year.
“Given how illiquid the remaining holding are, Link has announced it will move from weekly to monthly valuations while we may get further insight into the sale process and costs when the report & accounts for the year ending March 2020 are finally released over the next month.”