Amvescap's has decided to fold Invesco Funds' wholesaler teams into AIM Funds. The plan to merge the wholesaler teams was revealed yesterday by Mark Williamson, AIM's CEO and John D. Rogers, CEO of Invesco the parent company to Invesco Funds. The pair also revealed that they are reviewing the fund lineup at the Denver-based firm.

The pair said they are leading a "comprehensive" review of the sales staffs at the two firms with an eye on cutting costs. They added that the sales teams will be merged under AIM and the Denver staff relocated to Houston. Separately, AIM also said that it is letting go of 200 phone reps as part of the closing to its call center in Austin. Those workers will get the option to reolocate to either the Houston or Denver offices. Fewer than fifty other employees in investment management and IT business will remain in Austin after the cuts.

Williamson told Dow Jones that the decision to merge the teams is part of an effort to create a simplified sales structure for brokers and planners. "We're not oblivious to the market conditions," he told the news service.

Ray Cunningham, president and chief executive of Invesco Funds, confirmed the consolidation of jobs in Denver. Cunningham told the Denver Post that Amvescap workers in both operational and transfer agency functions would make the move to Denver. "There will be jobs created here as well as jobs that will be migrating," Cunningham told the paper. Invesco currently employs 600 workers in Denver.

Cunningham also said that the decision to merge the wholesaler teams would effect roughly 125 Invesco workers. That count includes some 30 field workers not based in Denver. He could not confirm how many of those workers would lose jobs and how many would have the option of transferring to AIM. The Houston-based AIM unit currently employees about 70 wholesalers.

Despite the loss of the Denver sales force, the executives insist that the firm will retain the Invesco Funds brand side-by-side with the AIM Funds lineup. That does not mean that the Invesco brand is surviving in every context, though. On Monday the Atlanta-based Invesco Retirement unit will be rebranded as Amvescap Retirement. 

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