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Woodford debacle: Income Focus Fund to reopen

Former Woodford fund LF ASI Income Focus is set to resume trading
January 31, 2020

LF ASI Income Focus (GB00BD9X6L36), which used to be run by Neil Woodford, is set to start trading again on 13 February ending a suspension that lasted nearly four months.

Link Fund Solutions, the fund’s authorised corporate director, decided to suspend trading on 15 October 2019 after Mr Woodford resigned as manager of this fund and Woodford Patient Capital Trust, which is now called Schroder UK Public Private Trust (SUPP). At the time, Link warned that heavy outflows from LF ASI Income Focus, which used to be called LF Woodford Income Focus, could result in it having to sell holdings fast for unfavourable prices, “prejudicing the interests of both remaining and redeeming investors".

But on 31 January Link said that the fund's investments had been repositioned, meaning trading can resume on 13 February.

Aberdeen Standard Investments, which assumed management of the fund on 31 December 2019, and the fund’s depositary will waive their fees for the period of 31 May 2019 to 31 May 2020. And Link is waiving its fees for the period of 20 December 2019 to 31 May 2020. Link said that the resulting savings should offset some of the costs associated with the repositioning of the fund. Investors are due to receive an update on the fund's investment approach, its new portfolio, recent performance and costs of repositioning before 13 February.

The fund, which had assets of about £252m as of 30 January, changed its investment objective following the appointment of the new manager. This included dropping an income target of 5p per share a year in favour of a focus on achieving a yield higher than that of the FTSE All Share index over a three-year rolling period.

LF ASI Income Focus returned 0.7 per cent between 15 October 2019, the date its suspension from trading started, and 30 January 2020. The Investment Association UK Equity Income fund sector average was 6.5 per cent over this period when the FTSE All Share index gained 3.8 per cent.