Woodford to cut unquoted holdings in £4.3bn Equity Income fund to zero

Direct illiquid holdings to be reduced

Neil Woodford has confirmed illiquid holdings in the Woodford Equity Income fund will be cut to under 10% of the portfolio by the end of the year with a view to reducing this to zero over the longer term.

The plans revealed in the latest update for the £4.3bn Equity Income fund follow the decision in March to switch the fund's exposure to unquoted stocks to shares in the £742m Woodford Patient Capital Trust, also run by Woodford. At the time Woodford Investment Managers said it had sold some of the unquoted stocks to Patient Capital and was making the switch ahead of any potential regulatory changes following the Financial Conduct Authority's discussion paper Patient Capital and Authorised Funds, published in December. Woodford's reports £33.7m profit despite assets fall "The fund's...