Invesco is shuttering its standalone UK equities team, formerly led by stockpicker Neil Woodford, and merging it with its European division amid an industry-wide drop in interest for British stocks.
The US-headquartered asset manager said the move to merge the desks “to create one Pan European Equity Team” will take effect from January and is intended to encourage “collaboration” between the divisions based in Henley-on-Thames. Invesco added that the decision “was made in Henley by the investment management teams”.
But the move is yet another setback for UK equity funds. The decision marks the end of an era after Invesco’s UK equity team gained prominence under its former star stockpicker Woodford, who worked for Perpetual before it was acquired by Invesco in 2000.