Disgraced fund manager announces new Jersey biotech venture

Tuesday 16 February 2021

A disgraced British fund manager has announced plans to set up a new enterprise in Jersey - just 18 months after his previous £3bn venture linked to Guernsey collapsed.

Neil Woodford’s comeback will be focused on biotech, but, unlike his last fund, won’t be accepting money from ‘small investors.'

Woodford Investment Management fell apart in October 2019 amid mounting investor withdrawals.

It came after serious concerns arose over listings that the fund had on Guernsey’s stock exchange.

As a result of the saga, investors suffered significant losses, and around £200m of their cash is still to be returned to them. The events in the lead-up to the fund’s meltdown were investigated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and a report is expected soon. 

Pictured: Mr Woodford announced his comeback in an exclusive interview in the Sunday Telegraph.

In his first public comments since his eponymous fund hit disaster, Mr Woodford told the Sunday Telegraph that he was “very sorry for what I did wrong.” 

“What I was responsible for was two years of under-performance — I was the fund manager, the investment strategy was mine, I owned it, and it delivered a period of under-performance,” the 60-year-old said in what the Telegraph described as a “tearful and defiant interview."

He went on to announce that he will be starting a new fund bearing his name alongside Craig Newman - Woodford Capital Management Partners - which will be based in Buckingham and Jersey.

Justifying his return to the financial scene, Mr Woodford, who revealed he had been forced to sell his £30m home, explained: “I didn’t want what happened to me in 2019 to be the epitaph of my career, I didn’t want it to be the full stop. 

“I’m not trying to rebuild an ego, I just felt I wanted to continue to do the things that I believe in. I don’t think I’m qualified to do anything else. You can imagine lots of people who have read the media about me wouldn’t want to touch me with a 10ft disinfected bargepole.”

The new fund - which is not currently listed in the Jersey Financial Services Commission registry - will be focused on biotechnologies that will develop into “the likes of Immunocore, Kymab, Synairgen, Nanopore”, and it will only raise money from professionals, Mr Woodford pledged.

News of Mr Woodford’s return has been met with fury on investor bulletin boards, The Times reported, while the Head of Active Portfolios at investment platform AJ Bell said: “The news will come as a surprise to the thousands still waiting to get the last of their money back."