Top Executives Quit Woodford Funds Venture

Two of the executives who were instrumental in backing Neil Woodford, the UK's best-known fund manager, have quit his asset management start-up less than a year after its launch.

Sky News has learnt that Nick Hamilton, Woodford Investment Management's chief operating officer, and Gray Smith, the chief legal and compliance officer, resigned from the business on Tuesday.

Mr Hamilton and Mr Smith were two of the firm's most senior employees, and the circumstances surrounding their departure were unclear. Links to their profile pages on its website had been removed on Tuesday afternoon.

Woodford Investment Management became the City's most talked about funds start-up for years when it opened for business in April, and has already attracted £8.5bn of clients' money.

It has taken significant positions in blue-chip companies such as British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS.L - news) , BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) , GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF - news) and Rolls-Royce.

Mr Woodford, who was a prominent opponent of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) 's attempted £60bn takeover of the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) earlier this year, has also become a shareholder in Atom, a digital-only banking venture which is targeting a launch next year.

The firm, which employs 32 staff, is run by Craig Newman, its chief executive, who joined alongside the former Invesco (NYSE: IVZ - news) fund manager Mr Woodford in May.

Data analysed by Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) showed that Mr Woodford's fund has returned 7.4% since its launch, making it the top performing UK Equity Income fund during this period.

By comparison, the FTSE All Share had achieved a negative return of -0.5%, while the average UK Equity Income fund returned 0.7%.

In a statement issued to Sky News, Woodford Investment Management confirmed the departures of the two men, saying that the firm's "infrastructure has evolved commensurate to its goal of building a fund management company with an operational platform fit for a regulation-heavy environment".

"Having assisted with the successful set up and launch of Woodford Investment Management LLP in their respective roles of chief operating officer and chief legal and compliance officer, Nick Hamilton and Gray Smith will be leaving the firm this month."

Craig Newman, chief executive, Woodford Investment Management, said: "Nick and Gray helped us get over the line. We thank them for their commitment and wish them all the best in the future."

Last week, Woodford Investment Management announced the appointment of several other executives to senior compliance, risk and operations roles.