(CMR) Neil Woodford, whose Equity Income Fund was at the center of a scandal two years ago, has set up a new firm in the Cayman Islands.
According to FTAdviser, the new firm, WCM Partners, will manage the contract Woodford has with Acacia Partners, a US private equity firm that owns a parcel of assets that Woodford previously managed.
Woodford (61) had initially wanted to register his firm in Jersey; however, that plan fell through. He started WCM Partners in Cayman on April 16.
Woodford's decision to start a new fund reportedly prompted dismay among politicians and savers who lost under the stock picker. Some £200 million is still owed to investors.
The new firm will not involve the launching of a fund or the marketing to UK retail investors.
The assets owned by Acacia were part of Woodford’s Equity Income fund which was suspended by its administrator Link in June 2019, FTAdviser reported.
FTAdviser states that the fund had been hit by a flurry of withdrawals, at one point hitting £9m a day, and the presence of unquoted assets in the fund meant that Woodford was unable to meet the redemptions. Woodford’s firm was later fired by Link as manager of the strategy.
According to FTAdviser, Acacia previously bought, and then swiftly re-valued at a substantial profit, a number of the assets which had been in the Woodford Equity Income fund. Those assets were sold by Link to Acacia as part of the liquidation of the fund. Woodford's role is to act as an adviser on those assets.
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