On 18 January 2020, Link Fund Solutions Ltd (LFS), the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) of the LF Equity Income Fund (LFEIF), started winding up the fund. LFS considered the winding-up of the LFEIF to be in the best interests of all investors and enabled the return of cash to investors at the earliest opportunity.
Since this date, the LFEIF has returned £2.267 billion to investors in the form of 2 capital distributions: £2.124 billion in January 2020 and £143.2 million in March 2020.
Following a sale of healthcare assets, a third capital distribution of £183.15 million will be paid on or around 26 August 2020. Following this third payment, a total of £2.45 billion will have been distributed to investors since the commencement of the winding up of the LFEIF.
LFS continues to work on the sale of the remaining assets in the fund. Further to the August capital distribution, subsequent payments will be made when suitable amounts of cash have been generated from this sale.
We remain in regular discussion with LFS as it takes the remaining steps in winding-up the LFEIF.
The annual accounting period for the LFEIF has been extended from 31 December 2019 to 31 March 2020 and will now cover the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2020. These accounts are now expected to be published no later than 30 September 2020 as coronavirus (Covid-19) and the sale of the healthcare assets affected the ability to produce these accounts within 4 months of the year end.
See LFS’s investor website for information on the LFEIF and communications to date: https://equityincome.linkfundsolutions.co.uk
As previously updated, we have opened an investigation into the activities that led to the suspension of the LFEIF. We cannot comment further on ongoing investigations.