The independent board of Woodford Patient Capital Trust (LON:WPCT) is talking to other investment managers as they mull whether to give Neil Woodford the boot.
A number of fund management groups have approached the board about taking over management of the WPCT investment trust, it was confirmed by the FTSE 250 company in a statement on Monday.
READ: Neil Woodford's Patient Capital Trust to cut debt and refresh board
As opposed to an open-ended fund, an investment trust has an independent board of directors which hires and fires the investment manager as they see fit.
The board said it has been “monitoring the situation” at Woodford Investment Management with an eye to “preserving the value of WPCT's portfolio and protecting the interests of shareholders”.
Shares in WPCT have fallen 30% since the start of June after another of Woodford’s funds, the open-ended Woodford Equity Income fund (WEIF), was gated in the wake of a huge wave of redemptions following months of poor performance.
The closed-ended trust held many of the same shares as its open-ended sister and was hit by concerns that it may be hit by any forced selling of assets.
Widening the discussions
The board said it “remains confident in [Woodford’s] commitment to WPCT and the current day-to-day management of the portfolio”, but having held preliminary discussions with a small group of managers about the ongoing management of the trust, it now “intends to engage with a broader range of third-party managers in order to undertake a full assessment of all potential management options, which may or may not lead to a change in the company's management arrangements”.
Last month, WPCT said it would cut debt, tighten controls on investments and make some changes to the board as it tried to soothe shareholder concerns following the WEIF suspension.
The trust also introduced extra controls to ensure that any proposed sale of an asset held by both the WEIF and WPCT are brought to the board for approval first.
It was also announced on Monday that Woodford himself had sold 1.75mln shares in the trust, telling the board that the "sole reason that he did so was in order to meet personal financial obligations, including a tax liability".
Shares in WPCT were struggling for direction in trading at the start of the week, down less than a penny at 53.27p.