InvestmentsJun 7 2019

Woodford loses £330m Openwork mandate

twitter-iconfacebook-iconlinkedin-iconmail-iconprint-icon
Search supported by
Woodford loses £330m Openwork mandate

Omnis, the asset management company run for clients of Openwork, announced that it has replaced Mr Woodford as the manager of its £300m Omnis Income and Growth fund.

Mr Woodford was informed yesterday and the process of selecting a new manager is underway, the adviser network said in a statement yesterday afternoon (June 6). It added it had made the decision to replace him in May.

The loss of this mandate comes just days after Mr Woodford’s largest client, St James's Place, fired him as the manager of £3bn of assets across three of its funds.

Mike Morrow, wealth and platform director at Openwork, said: "We have been working hard with the Omnis Investment Team over recent months to ensure that the Omnis Income & Growth Fund is delivering to its mandate and have the utmost confidence in the value of portfolio and the underlying investments within it.

"Omnis' use of segregated fund mandates means advisers and their clients benefit from a diversified blended fund approach.

"They provide a range of portfolios which have no exposure to the Omnis Income & Growth fund should advisers and their clients wish to consider alternative options for their investments."

The move comes after Mr Woodford's £3.7bn Equity Income fund was suspended on Monday (June 3) amid liquidity concerns.

The fund's suspension came following a sustained period of underperformance, which prompted investors to pull £9m from the fund every working day in May.

Since then Woodford has been taken off Hargreaves Lansdown's best buy list and was ditched by wealth manager St James's Place.

Meanwhile Hargreaves Lansdown has announced it will waive its platform fee while the fund's dealing is suspended and has called on Mr Woodford to do the same. But the manager has so far refused.

david.thorpe@ft.com