Woodford raises £1.6bn during offer period

Woodford Investment Management raised £1.6bn for the CF Woodford Equity Income fund during its offer period this month, the company has announced.

The fund raising - the largest ever in the UK retail space - means manager Neil Woodford (pictured) is now running a total of £5.25bn in assets when his £3.65bn St James’s Place mandates are taken into account. Unusually, Woodford’s marketing work during the offer period was largely done for him by brokers eager to advertise the new fund to clients. Other inflows have come from multi-managers switching their holdings: Hargreaves Lansdown said last month it would transfer a £400m stake in Woodford’s former Invesco Perpetual Income funds to his new portfolio. Having begun trading at...