Ex-Invesco star Neil Woodford set for June fund launch
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - Woodford Investment Management, the new investment firm set up by star fund manager Neil Woodford, said on Thursday that it planned to launch its first fund on June 2.
The CF Woodford Equity Income Fund will be run by Woodford, who left Invesco Perpetual in April, where he built a near cult-like status after managing money for more than 25 years.
Woodford's new venture got off to an auspicious start with asset management firm St James's Place announcing last month that it was ending 7.7 billion pounds worth of investment mandates with Invesco Perpetual and would allocate nearly half of that to Woodford.
The new fund will continue to use Woodford's signature investment style, focusing on companies offering "sustained dividend growth", the company said.
"I will run this new fund in the same way that I have always run money, adopting the same philosophy and the same long-term approach," 54-year-old Woodford said. "My passion and energy have never been stronger."
Woodford is one of Britain's best-known stock pickers who added to an already strong reputation by weathering the 2008-09 financial crisis, during which his funds still made money.
The company said it no longer had an "operational relationship" with Oakley Capital. In December Oakley said Woodford would join the investment firm but a spokesperson said the intention had always been for Oakley to provide support for Woodford's transition rather than to administer the fund.
($1 = 0.5894 British Pounds)
(Reporting By Jemima Kelly; Editing By Chris Vellacott and Susan Thomas)
