Outgoing Invesco Perpetual star Neil Woodford is to join Oakley Capital Management on 1 May. Mr Woodford currently runs the Invesco Perpetual High Income (GB0033054015) and Invesco Perpetual Income (GB0033053827) funds, and IC Top 100 Fund Edinburgh Investment Trust (EDIN).
Oakley Capital says it "will provide the infrastructure to allow Neil to manage retail and institutional clients' money immediately after his employment with Invesco terminates on 29 April 2014."
This will be support for Mr Woodford in setting up his own asset management business, for example, use of Oakley's offices and back office functions. Mr Woodford's new business is expected to exist within Oakley for a period of time, but once it is up and running it may become wholly independent.
Mr Woodford specialises in running equity income funds, while Oakley focuses on more esoteric areas such as hedge funds and private equity. However it is not expected that Mr Woodford will have much involvement with these assets, though his current portfolios include some smaller companies.
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Oakley Capital Investments (OCL) has over $1bn of assets under management and was founded by Peter Dubens and David Till. Its largest shareholder is Invesco Perpetual, which holds 31.4 per cent of its shares, and was held by Invesco Perpetual Income and High Income funds, at the time of their last annual reports. Oakley's share price has benefited since the announcement that Mr Woodford would be joining the company.
Read more on what to do with Mr Woodford's funds
Read more on the future for Invesco Perpetual's investment trusts
