Woodford unveils new fund details

Neil Woodford, Britain's best-known fund manager, announced details of what may be the largest fund launch ever in the UK. Woodford Investment Management will begin accepting money into the CF Woodford Equity Income Fund on 2 June.

Investors are expected to shift billions of pounds from the Invesco Perpetual funds previously run by Woodford to his new firm.

What the commentators said

The strong track record he built up over 25 years at Invesco Perpetual should encourage plenty of other investors to switch. But if he needs an "ace up his sleeve", it will be fees, said Holly Black on Thisismoney.co.uk.

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The new fund has an all-in fee of 0.75% per year. Invesco Perpetual High Income has ongoing charges of 1.17%. This raises the prospect of a price war as Invesco tries to prevent defections good news for cost-conscious investors, said Lumsden.

Cris Sholt Heaton is the contributing editor for MoneyWeek.

He is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is experienced in covering international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers.

He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.