* LF Woodford Equity Income Fund to be wound up
* BlackRock to sell off listed assets
* PJT Partners to continue to sell illiquid assets
(Adds detail from statement, quote, bullet points, background)
By Simon Jessop
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Embattled money manager Neil
Woodford's suspended LF Woodford Equity Income Fund is to be
wound up, the fund's authorised corporate director Link Fund
Solutions (LFS) said on Tuesday.
Woodford, one of Britain's most high-profile fund managers,
had his flagship 4.3 billion pounds ($5.4 billion) fund
suspended from trading in June after an increase in demand from
clients to take their money back.
At the heart of Woodford's troubles was the scale of his
holdings in unlisted or illiquid assets, which are hard to sell
quickly and which have become a focal point for the British
regulator's ire in subsequent weeks.
Despite seeking to sell down his illiquid holdings and move
into liquid stocks ahead of a planned December reopening of the
fund, Link said on Tuesday the process was not going as planned.
"Whilst progress has been made in relation to repositioning
the Fund’s assets, this has unfortunately not been sufficient to
allow reasonable certainty as to when the repositioning would be
fully achieved and the Fund could be re-opened," Link said in a
letter to investors.
"LFS has concluded that an orderly realisation of the Fund’s
assets allows the return of money through interim payments to
investors more quickly than if the Fund had remained suspended
for a longer period of time."
As a result of the decision, Neil Woodford will cease to be
the investment manager of the fund with immediate effect and the
fund's assets will be split into two portfolios managed by
others.
BlackRock Advisers will take charge of selling the fund's
listed assets while PJT Partners will continue with its
previously agreed role in helping to sell the fund's highly
illiquid assets, Link said.
The winding up of the fund will begin on Jan. 17, 2020. In a
separate statement, the Woodford Patient Capital Trust said its
board would continue to review its management arrangements and
would make a further announcement in due course.
(Reporting by Simon Jessop, editing by Sinead Cruise)