Neil Woodford $646 Million Health-Care Portfolio Attracts Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Health-care stocks accumulated by beleaguered stock picker Neil Woodford has attracted interest from a consortium of investors led by advisory firm WG Partners, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The potential buyers are close to entering exclusive talks to purchase the portfolio of about 15 stakes that could fetch close to 500 million pounds ($646 million), said the person, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. Sky News reported on the negotiations earlier.

A spokesman for WG Partners declined to comment.

Woodford announced the closure of his investment firm last month after he was ousted from his flagship fund. His dramatic decline began in early June, when he froze redemptions from the fund to give him time to sell its unlisted and thinly traded stocks in smaller companies, including many in the health-care and biotech sectors.

WG Partners, an advisory firm that specializes in life-sciences companies, is looking at a portfolio that includes stakes in firms such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. and Rutherford Health Plc, the person said.

The sale’s being overseen by PJT Partners, the person said. PJT was hired by the administrator of the flagship Woodford fund to help offload unlisted and hard-to-sell listed assets. A unit of BlackRock Inc. was also hired to prepare the portfolio of listed assets for winding down.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lucca de Paoli in London at gdepaoli1@bloomberg.net;Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, Chris Bourke

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