Invesco has sold its entire stake in the Crystal Amber investment trust with which it has been linked since Neil Woodford ran money for the firm.
A regulatory filing showed Invesco reduced its 20.08% stake in the activist investment trust, managed by Richard Bernstein, to nothing on Monday. The stake appears to have been held by the Invesco UK Equity High Income and UK Equity Income funds managed by Mark Barnett before his exit from the company in May.
The latest annual report for the Invesco High Income fund, which has since been renamed the Invesco UK Equity High Income fund, shows it held 11,937,917 shares in Crystal Amber at the end of 2019, representing a market value of £15.4m. The Invesco Income fund, which has now been rebranded the Invesco UK Equity Income fund, held 9,847,231 shares at the end of September 2019, which at the time had a market value of £18.7m, according to its interim report.
James Goldstone and Ciaran Mallon now run both funds.
Invesco’s large stake in the investment trust appears to have been inherited from Woodford before his departure from the Henley firm in 2014.
Data from the Invesco Income fund dating back to 2011, when it was managed by Woodford, shows it held a 30% stake in the investment trust representing a 0.7% weighting in the fund, which at that stage represented a market value of £5.9m.
Woodford also went on to acquire a large holding in the investment trust when he set up his eponymous firm. In July 2019, he sold a 16% stake in its entirety to shore up liquidity in his funds.
Crystal Amber had also held a stake in the Woodford Patient Capital Trust but sold out during its 2019 financial year.
Shares in the investment trust have taken a dive over the last year, trading at 186.5p in October 2019 compared to 81p today. The £96.8m investment trust is currently trading at a 24.8% discount, according to the Association of Investment Companies.
