SHARES in Neil Woodford’s listed investment trust have plunged after investors were blocked from pulling out money from its multibillion-pound sister fund.

Woodford Patient Capital Trust saw shares tumble 12 per cent, having fallen as much as 21 per cent at one stage, amid concerns of knock-on effects from the suspension on Monday of the flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund after an exodus of investors.

This came despite assurances from Oxford-based Woodford Investment Management that its other funds would be unaffected by the suspension.

Shares of other stocks that count Mr Woodford’s fund among their biggest investors also fell heavily after the move, with construction giant Kier Group down six per cent in the FTSE 250.

And fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown saw shares drop five per cent in the FTSE 100 after it said it could no longer include the Woodford Equity Income Fund or Woodford Income Focus Fund on its “Wealth 50” list.

Mr Woodford – one of Britain’s highest-profile fund managers – said on Monday the suspension had been taken to ‘protect’ investors and reposition the portfolio in a bid to preserve liquidity.

The company said its appointed authorised corporate director Link Fund Solutions would decide when dealing of shares may resume.

The suspension will remain in place for at least four weeks.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com, said: “It’s been a tough few years for Woodford and things look like they will get worse still.”

The City watchdog said it was in contact with Woodford Investment Management “to ensure that actions undertaken are in the best interests of all the fund’s investors”.

The Woodford Equity Income Fund is the company’s largest, with a reported value of £3.7 billion, but this is down heavily on the £6.8 billion recorded a year ago.

Redemptions from the fund were reported to have hit an average of £10 million a day, while a county council is said to have requested the return of about £250m. Woodford Investment Management said: “After consideration of all relevant circumstances relating to the fund’s assets, we have come to the conclusion it is in the best interests of all investors in the fund to suspend the issue, cancellation, sale, redemption and transfer of shares in the fund. Following an increased level of redemptions, this period of suspension is intended to protect the investors in the fund by allowing Woodford, as previously communicated to investors, time to reposition the element of the fund’s portfolio invested in unquoted and less liquid stocks, into more liquid investments.”