Thousands of investors awaiting compensation after Neil Woodford’s investment empire collapsed suffered a fresh setback yesterday when a sale of the firm that oversaw it was delayed.
Australia-based Link Group said last month it was in talks to sell its UK arm Link Fund Solutions (LFS), which supervised the Woodford Equity Income fund, to Irish rival Waystone.
Proceeds will go towards compensating those who entrusted Woodford with their money as well as a settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority, which has been investigating LFS.
Delayed deal: Australia-based Link Group said last month it was in exclusive talks to sell its UK arm Link Fund Solutions – which supervised the Woodford Equity Income fund
The Financial Times reported that the deal was in doubt after the departure of three directors from Waystone – announced last week – following a dispute over the company’s future strategy.
Link said yesterday that discussions over the sale were continuing but that it was ‘currently targeting April 2023 to be reached rather than March 2023’.
It added: ‘While diligence and negotiations have taken longer than originally anticipated, substantial progress has been made.
‘Until such time as binding agreements are signed there can be no certainty that any agreement will be reached either with Waystone or, in relation to settlement, with the FCA.’
Waystone said it was ‘continuing its period of exclusive negotiation’ with Link. The Woodford fund, once worth more than £10bn, collapsed in 2019, leaving hundreds of thousands out of pocket.
Woodford invested in risky stocks and could not sell them fast enough to return the money.
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