Investors in LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (GB00BLRZQB71) can now transfer their holding to other platforms, even if the platform they are moving to does not offer the share class they hold.
As of 10 July, investors have been able to transfer all share classes in this fund to other platforms. If the receiving platform does not offer the share class being transferred it can open a new account in that class and receive the transfer. Link Asset Services, the fund’s authorised corporate director, said: “This supports investors by providing them with the freedom to move their investments between platforms.”
After the fund was suspended from trading on 3 June, you could only transfer your holding in it to another platform if it offered the share class you held. This was particularly problematic for investors who held the z share classes – GB00BLRZQC88 and GB00BLRZQB71 – on Hargreaves Lansdown, because other investment platforms that sell funds to private investors typically offered the C share classes – GB00BLRZQ737 and GB00BLRZQ620.
Before LF Woodford Equity Income was suspended from trading transferring a holding in it to another platform did not incur this problem because you could switch the share class you held into whatever share class your new platform offered. But since the fund's suspension from trading, investors in it cannot switch into a different share class or sell their holding in it.
“This move means that investors [in LF Woodford Equity Income] can now transfer their money to another platform, rather than having the whole process held up by the fund suspension,” said Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at investment platform AJ Bell. “The fact that transfers from Hargreaves Lansdown to other platforms were being held up due to a technical share class issue was particularly annoying for investors wanting to move their money out.”
