Neil Woodford could return to the stage with a bid for some of his old assets should ongoing talks with unnamed UK-based institutional investors and wealth managers succeed.
Neil Woodford, founder of defunct investment management firm Woodford Investment Management (WIM), is aiming to raise a £500m ($655m) fund backed by unnamed, UK-based institutional investors and wealth managers, Sky News reported on Saturday.
Consultations are ongoing to carve a portfolio for the new fund from some of WIM’s former unquoted investments, purchased at a discount to their collective net asset value.
Woodford’s shortlist reportedly contains automated drug discovery technology developer Benevolent AI, whose market valuation has reportedly halved to $1bn since its last funding round in April 2019.
Other potential investments include NEX-listed protein beam drug developer Rutherford Health and immunotherapy developer Immunocore, a business with origins in University of Oxford research.
Woodford hopes to create a separate vehicle for new investments in London-listed companies. He is also looking to bring into private ownership a litigation funder with which he was associated, Burford Capital, although this is thought to be unlikely.
An unnamed ally of the stockpicker told Sky News the negotiations were prompted by inbound inquiries from investors.
An agreement would represent a remarkable turnaround from the dramatic failure of Woodford’s $4.4bn Equity Income fund in 2019, and amidst tumbling stock values owed to the spread of the coronavirus.
WIM’s spinout-focused vehicle, Woodford Patient Capital Fund, was rescued by asset management firm Schroders. It now operates under the moniker Schroder UK Public Private Trust.
Bloomberg News reported in December 2019 that Woodford and Craig Newman, WIM’s former CEO, had already sought to raise funds from China-based investors before the talks were derailed by the coronavirus epidemic.
Woodford, who was criticised for locking away private savings in WIM’s funds, is expected to eschew retail markets on his return to instead target professional investors.
He will be keen to avoid too much public attention amid continued scrutiny of his earlier decisions, with some litigation experts contending there may be grounds for legal action.
Both Woodford and Newman were paid dividends during WIM’s penultimate financial year, and the firm reportedly continued charging management fees even whilst its funds were suspended.
