In light of today's announcement, we have spoken with Woodford Investment Management (WIM) and can confirm that the Woodford Equity Income fund has now entered the process of being wound up. This decision was made by the fund's ACD, Link, who have removed WIM as the fund's investment manager and appointed BlackRock Advisers to manage the liquid element of the portfolio and PJT Partners to manage the illiquid portion of the fund. The name of the fund will also be amended to reflect this change. Once regulatory approval has been granted, the fund will become the LF Equity Income fund until it is closed.

The fund's assets will continue to be repositioned but with a focus on being wound up. Once the winding up of the fund commences on the 17th January 2020, it will move to an orderly realisation of its assets. Further information is available from Link's website, which can be accessed via the following link.

https://woodford.linkfundsolutions.co.uk/media/yr2dbqm2/15th-october-2019-investor-letter-regarding-the-winding-up-of-the-lf-woodford-equity-income-fund.pdf

While we had already suspended the fund's rating, it will now be removed from the Academy of Funds.

Update 16th October 2019 - We have since learned that as a result of the Woodford Equity Income fund being wound up, WIM has also resigned as fund manager on its remaining mandates and has announced the closure of the firm.