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* BlackRock has sold, reinvested 56% of fund
* PJT Partners looking to sell illiquid assets
* May have to wait some time for more - AJ Bell
* Listed fund also changes name after manager change
* Fund misses out on election bounce - Willis Owen
(Adds trust change of name, quote, holdings performance)
By Carolyn Cohn and Simon Jessop
LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of
investors trapped in the former flagship fund of veteran money
manager Neil Woodford should get just over half their money back
in January, but may have to wait some time to recover more from
the collapsed business.
Woodford, who made his name as a contrarian investor over a
30-plus-year career, has come under fire from regulators and
investors for the 3 billion pound ($3.85 billion) LF Woodford
Equity Income Fund's heavy exposure to unlisted, hard-to-sell
stocks.
Trading in the UK-focused fund was initially suspended in
June after it ran out of cash to pay back investors seeking to
leave after a period of underperformance. Administrator Link
Fund Solutions said it would wind up the fund in October, which
prompted Woodford to close his firm.
Link said in a letter to investors on Friday that Britain's
regulator had approved its plan to wind up the fund, with a
final valuation of assets set to take place on Jan. 17. The
first payout will be made on or around Jan. 20, it said, with
the fund's name changing to LF Equity Income Fund.
BlackRock, which is selling the more liquid assets on behalf
of Link, has sold 56% of the fund, totalling 1.65 billion pounds
($2.12 billion), Link said. BlackRock has reinvested the funds
in assets including stock index and money market instruments.
However, Link added that PJT Partners, which is selling the
less liquid assets, was still exploring opportunities to sell
them.
"Link’s letter indicates that investors are likely to be
waiting for some time before they get all their money back,"
said Ryan Hughes, head of active portfolios at investment
platform AJ Bell. The current valuation of 2.95 billion pounds
represents a 19% loss for investors since the fund's suspension,
he added.
Woodford investors may lose a third of their money as a
result of the winding up of the fund, according to the firm's
own estimates.
The quick sale of some of the assets means the fund has been
unable to benefit from Friday's post-UK election bounce in a
number of shares previously held in size by the fund, which
would be "galling" for investors, said Adrian Lowcock, head of
personal investing at Willis Owen.
They include housebuilders Barratt and Taylor
Wimpey, both of which saw double-digit percentage gains
on Friday following a strong majority for the ruling
Conservatives in Thursday's British elections.
Another former Woodford fund, Woodford Patient Capital Trust
has been renamed Schroder UK Public Private Trust to
reflect its change of manager, it said on Friday.
Following the Woodford suspension and the freezing of
property funds after the June 2016 Brexit referendum, the Bank
of England on Monday is set to update its rules governing
withdrawals from funds holding illiquid assets.
M&G froze its property fund again last week.
($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Mark
Potter)
