St. James's Place pulls mandate from Woodford Investment Management

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - British wealth manager St. James's Place said on Wednesday it had terminated its investment mandate with Woodford Investment Management (WIM).

St. James's Place said in a statement that none of its funds were part of Woodford's Equity Income Fund, suspended on Monday after an increase in client redemptions.

Richard Colwell of Columbia Threadneedle and Nick Purves of RWC Partners have been handed the mandate, which includes the UK High Income Unit Trust, UK Equity (Life and Pension), Income Distribution (Life) and SJPI UK High Income funds, it said.

"While the St. James's Place funds managed by WIM were separate mandates and not part of the Equity Income Fund suspended earlier this week, the St. James's Place Investment Committee believes these changes will ensure its clients' investments continue to be managed effectively." (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Carolyn Cohn)