Neil Woodford fund expected to launch in early June

After years of strong performance, the star fund manager left Invesco Perpetual earlier this year for "personal reasons" and because he wanted to start his own company.

The Woodford Fund, which is being backed by Oakley Capital, is hotly anticipated and brokers say they are expecting very large inflows when it becomes available, hailing it as the biggest launch in a decade.

Mr Woodford has poached two analysts and a fund manager from Invesco Perpetual. Stephen Lamacraft, his brother Paul Lamacraft, and Saku Saha, all have special expertise in dealing with unqoted companies, leading to speculation that the new fund will invest a portion of its portfolio in them.

Jason Hollands, business development director at Bestinvest, says that like Woodford's Invesco funds, pharmaceuticals will be a major investment theme.

Mr Hollands added: "Don't expect this fund to be much different from his Income and Higher Income funds at Invesco Perpetual. I like the fact that Mr Woodford's full attention will be on the fund, as he has hired a bunch of other people to sort out running the business and administration side of things."

The fee structure for the new fund is being kept strictly under wraps until it has received regulatory approval. Woodford has held private meetings with a number of brokers and is still refusing to disclose any details on the matter.

All major online platforms are planning to sell the open-ended fund when it launches.

Last week, Invesco Perpetual was fined £18.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) because 15 funds, including Mr Woodford's flagship funds, took too much risk with investors' money.

An Invesco Perpetual spokesperson was unable to deny that the star manager's exit was related to the regulatory failings.

Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund Total Return Performance

Source: Invesco Perpetual, as at 31 March 2014.