The chief executive of the firm that was responsible for the Woodford Equity Income Fund has resigned.
Christopher Addenbrooke stepped down from Link Fund Solutions on February 2, according to a filing on Companies House on Friday (11 February).
Addenbrooke had been chief executive of the group since 2007, and has also resigned from a number of other connected firms, including Link Alternative Fund Administrators and Link Financial Investments.
The news was first reported by the Times, to whom Link Fund Solutions declined to comment.
Link Fund Solutions was the authorised corporate director of the now-defunct flagship Woodford fund.
Investigations
The company is currently the subject of court proceedings over its handling of the fund, as well as an investigation by the FCA.
In September, law firm Leigh Day issued a claim form on behalf of an initial 100 of the fund’s investors in an attempt to recover their losses from the fund’s collapse in 2019.
Leigh Day claims Link was in breach of the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority in the way it monitored and managed the fund, which it said ultimately led to the fund’s collapse.
Link Fund Solutions said it would “vigorously defend” the case.
Meanwhile, MPs have called for the FCA to conclude swiftly its own investigation into the scandal, after delays.
Woodford: What happened?
Woodford's flagship Equity Income fund had been struggling with outflows which were running at a net £9m per working day in May 2019.
On June 3 that year Kent County Council asked to withdraw all of the £250m it had invested with the manager through its pension fund. This helped trigger the fund's suspension.
Following this Woodford scrambled to sell shares to improve the fund's liquidity in an effort to preempt a wave of redemptions when the fund reopened.
But on October 15 Link Fund Solutions, the authorised corporate director of the fund, announced it would be wound down and the former star manager fired.
Later that day Woodford walked away from his remaining two investment vehicles and confirmed he had taken the decision to close Woodford Investment Management.
Thousands of investors saw their money trapped in the suspended fund and lose considerable sums as a result.
sally.hickey@ft.com
