Link Fund Solutions has ditched its entire stake in Mercia Asset Management, a company which once counted Woodford Patient Capital chairwoman Susan Searle among its board members.
Operating on behalf of Neil Woodford’s investment boutique, Link offloaded the remainder of Woodford Investment Management’s 7.3% stake in the fund group on 30 January 2020, an RNS filing on Tuesday showed.
Mercia was held by both the Woodford Patient Capital trust and Woodford Equity Income fund, which began winding down on 25 January, days before the sale was finalised.
Before the disposal Link was the second largest investor in Mercia Technologies, which changed its name to Mercia Asset Management, with 31 million shares in the business. Woodford’s former employer Invesco is the largest shareholder with 63 million shares or a 14.3% share of the business.
Searle was non-exec at Mercia while Woodford trust was major shareholder
Woodford’s investment in the fund group has previously raised eyebrows due to Woodford Patient Capital Trust’s chairwoman Susan Searle’s connection with the company.
Searle served as a non-executive director on Mercia’s board for more than four-and-a-half years from December 2014 during which time Woodford’s trust was one of its biggest shareholders, at one point owning a quarter of the business. But she abruptly quit her role at Mercia last July citing pressing time commitments.
Searle has had other connections to Woodford holdings over the years. She is on the board of Horizon Discovery Group and Benchmark Holdings which Woodford’s boutique owned 10.37% and 12.45% stakes in at the time Woodford Equity Income suspended.
She remains the chair of Woodford Patient Capital trust, which has since been taken over by Schroders and renamed Schroder UK Public Private Trust.
