Amvescap is cutter the clutter from its fund line-up. The two units of the London-based investment management company -- AIM Funds and Invesco Funds -- are mixing and matching 20 of their funds as part of the marketing and distribution reorganization begun earlier this year.

That reorganization started when the fund complex folded the sales and marketing staff of Invesco Funds into the AIM team. That internal merger is expected to become complete on July 1. The two fund brands started to come together when Invesco added sales-loads to its funds in the spring of 2000. At the time Invesco and AIM officials both insisted that the two fund family's operations would remain separate.

AIM officials say that the firm remains dedicated to retaining both the Invesco and AIM fund brands into the future.

Meanwhile, the complex will eliminate 20 funds through mergers into like funds. Fourteen of the merged funds are offered by Invesco and six are branded under AIM. Two of the Invesco funds will merge into other Invesco funds while the remaining 12 will be folded into offerings branded as AIM.

Officials also said that the Invesco Funds' Boards of Directors have approved the appointment of Fund Management Company, the distributor for the institutional money market funds represented by AIM Investments, as the distributor of two Invesco Funds Group money market funds -- IFG Treasurer's Money Market Reserve and IFG Treasurer's Tax-Exempt Reserve Fund.

That change will take effect on July 1, 2003.

While Amvescap hopes to keep separate identities for the Invesco and AIM brands, the addition of loads to the Invesco family and the elimination of a separate sales force for Invesco leaves little to differentiate the two fund brands in the minds of investors and investment advisors.  

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