Invesco has washed its hands of a 12.57% stake in Provident Financial as it repositions Mark Barnett’s portfolios following his exit from the firm.
The stake was sold in its entirety on 2 June, a regulatory filing from Wednesday evening revealed.
The Invesco value assessment, which was published in May, had singled out Provident Financial as one of a number underperforming stocks in Barnett’s portfolios. It also flagged British American Tobacco, Capita and Burford Capital, which have also seen their share prices plunge in recent years.
The doorstep lender had been in the Invesco Income and High Income funds since Neil Woodford ran the portfolios. Woodford continued to hold chunky weightings in the company when he established Woodford Investment Management, but those stakes are now spread between Schroders, which is the largest shareholder with a 14.6% stake, and Link Fund Solutions, which holds a 4.99% stake.
Schroders inherited the stake when it took on the Woodford Patient Capital Trust, now known as Schroder UK Private Public, while Link will be seeking to rid itself of the stake as it winds down the former Woodford Equity Income fund.
On the same day Invesco sold out of Provident Financial, Aberforth Partners initiated a 6.26% stake in the business, while Wellington Investment Management initiated a 5.3% stake.
While Aberforth focused exclusively on UK small caps, US-based Wellington runs several pan-European funds, but no UK equity products.
Provident Financial is not the only disposal Invesco has completed in the wake of Barnett’s departure, which was revealed on 15 May.
In late May it sold its 9.9% stake in Biopharma Credit entirely and reduced its 9.99% stake in Easyjet to “less than 5%’. It has also been chipping away at its stake in Card Factory, which has gone from 19.99% to 13.39% in a series of transactions over the last week.
Earlier that month, Invesco sold a £123.9m stake in AJ Bell, another company that it had held since Woodford managed its Income and High Income funds.
> See also: Invesco faces long road stymying outflows despite end of the Mark Barnett problem
