1,500 Neil Woodford Investors Sue Fund Collapse Business

A second group of investors have filed a multimillion-pound lawsuit over the collapse of Neil Woodford’s equity income fund, which left more than 300,000 nursing savers.

London law firm Harcus Parker has brought proceedings in the High Court on behalf of 1,500 investors, seeking damages of at least £18million against the trustees of Link Fund Solutions for its handling of the saga.

The law firm alleges Link collected millions of pounds in fees but failed to adequately oversee the £3.7billion fund.

He also claims that Link failed to manage the fund’s liquidity, ensure its assets were properly priced and provide a prudent risk allocation, which proved disastrous for investors.

Link said he will “vigorously defend” the charges, adding that he acted “in accordance with applicable rules, as well as in the best interests of all investors, and will continue to do so.”

The lawsuit is the latest development in the infamous collapse of the stock-picking veteran’s fund nearly three years ago.

The Woodford Equity Income fund was suspended in June 2019 after Mr Woodford, who had built up large positions in hard-to-trade stocks, was unable to sell assets quickly enough to meet withdrawal requests growing investors. The fund was closed in October 2019.

The lawsuit comes after Leigh Day filed a similar case on behalf of the first 100 plaintiffs last year.

The law firm alleged that Link allowed the fund to hold excessive hard-to-sell investments, breached regulatory rules in the way it managed the fund, and caused significant losses to investors.

Daniel Kerrigan, Senior Partner at Harcus Parker, said: “Three years later… our clients are disappointed that it has become necessary for them to take legal action to recover their lost investments.

Neither Mr. Woodford nor his company are involved in the lawsuit.

Last year, the former star fund manager lashed out at Link and dismissed widespread criticism of his operating style.

He said, “I can’t be sorry for the things I didn’t do. I did not take the decision to suspend the fund, I did not take the decision to liquidate the fund. As history will now show, those decisions were extremely damaging to investors, and they were not mine. These were Link’s decisions.