Woodford savers in new worry over ‘curious’ deal

LINK’S decision to invest more of Woodford victims’ money in a little-known firm called Mafic has been branded ‘very curious’ by a source with knowledge of the company.

It emerged this week that Link Fund Solutions, which is overseeing the collapsed Woodford Equity Income Fund as it returns money to investors, had taken a chunk of the cash which long-suffering savers were due to get back and ploughed it into Mafic.

The business is one of the few left in the Equity Income Fund, which is being wound up following Neil Woodford’s fall from grace in 2019.

Most of the remaining businesses held by the fund were snapped up in a cut-price deal last year by Acacia Research, a US investor, as Link sold the companies so it could return cash to Woodford’s angry customers.

The Mail understands that Mafic, a small US business which produces a material called basalt fibre, was offered to Acacia last year too – but after a quick look, Acacia declined.

A source with knowledge of the Acacia deal said: ‘It is really very curious as to why Link would invest further in the company. Acacia didn’t take it.’

Woodford (pictured) is now advising Acacia on its investments and his former customers have been left furious following the Acacia deal. Several of the companies which Link sold to Acacia have since soared in value – leaving savers missing out on millions of pounds of profits.

The further investment in Mafic, however, suggests that Link was not able to find a buyer for the firm even now – and that without the extra money, the company could have struggled to survive.

Link declined to reveal how much of investors’ money it had put into Mafic. Woodford investors are still waiting for almost £200m of their savings back.

In a letter to Woodford investors earlier this week, Link said: ‘It is sometimes necessary to provide further investment. After carefully considering all relevant information, we considered this action to be in investors’ best interests.’