Link appoints advisers to sell LFS

Oksana Patron

21 October 2022

Link Administration has appointed Macquarie Capital and UBS Securities Australia as its advisers as the company is exploring divestment options for the Link Fund Solutions business, including Link Fund Solutions Limited (LFSL).

In September, the firm announced that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had issued a draft warning notice to LFSL “in respect of matters relating to LFSL in its role as authorized corporate director to the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (now known as the LF Equity Income Fund)”.

“This signaled the commencement of the FCA’s settlement decision procedure, which remain ongoing,” the company said in the announcement made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

On 12 September, the FCA announced that it had approved the proposed acquisition of LFSL by Dye & Durham, subject to a requirement that Dye & Durham committed to make funds available to meet any shortfall within LFSL in the amount available to cover the redress payments LFSL may be required to make.

The following day LFSL confirmed it was in ongoing confidential discussions with the UK’s FCA regarding matters relating to its role as director to the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund and the FCA’s approval of proposed acquisition of LFSL by Dye & Durham.

Following those discussions and the FCA’s announcement, the FCA issued a draft warning notice and assessed the appropriate penalty as £50,000,000 (prior to taking into account any available discount), in addition to a restitution payment of £306,096,527.