Schroders is to take over the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) by the end of this year, following an intense selection process to find a possible replacement portfolio manager.
The board of the trust announced earlier in the summer that it was in talks with fund managers with a view to potentially replacing Neil Woodford, who resigned last week.
Woodford Patient Capital Trust will be renamed Schroder UK Public Private Trust once the take over is complete.
Chairman Susan Searle said: “Following a competitive process, we are delighted to be appointing Schroders as the Company’s portfolio manager.”
She added that the UK firm’s long-term approach to investment, as well as its research resources in both public and private assets, made it the natural choice to manage the trust’s portfolio.
According to Schroders, it intends to manage the portfolio in line with the existing investment objective and policy.
The asset manager’s beliefs are aligned with the Woodford Patient Capital Trust’s philosophy of “identifying and providing access to investment opportunities irrespective of public or private ownership”, it said in a statement.
The closure of Neil Woodford’s flagship equity fund was announced earlier in October, shortly after which the embattled fund manager said he was resigning from WPCT.
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