MutualFundWire.com: The Invesco-OpFunds Deal Closes, and More Chips Fall
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Tuesday, May 28, 2019

The Invesco-OpFunds Deal Closes, and More Chips Fall


A massive asset management deal has now closed, creating a titan with $1.2 trillion in AUM. Now products are beginning to move, and more top-level changes are shaking out.

Peter Mintzberg
Invesco
Global Head of Corporate Strategy, Investor Relations, and Treasury
On Friday afternoon, after the market closed, Invesco [profile] CEO Marty Flanagan confirmed that Atlanta-based Invesco closed on its planned acquisition of New York City-based OppenheimerFunds [profile]. In addition to previously reported senior leadership changes, at least three more top OpFunds executives are moving on, while another is taking a top job at Invesco. Stay tuned for more details on what the combined leadership team will look like.

Peter Mintzberg, chief strategy officer and global head of corporate development at OpFunds, has joined Invesco as global head of corporate strategy, investor relations, and treasury, Invesco spokeswoman Jeaneen Terrio confirms. Mintzberg himself declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Andrew Doyle (executive vice president and chief human resources officer at OpFunds), Cynthia Lo Bessette (EVP and general counsel at OpFunds), and David Pfeffer (EVP and chief financial officer at OpFunds) have all left the company, MFWire has learned. Invesco's Terrio declined to comment.

As previously reported, Art Steinmetz (formerly chairman, CEO, and president of OpFunds) is also leaving now that the deal has closed, while John McDonough (head of distribution and marketing at OpFunds) is taking on a key role at Invesco.

Other cuts are being made across the combined firm, as previously reported. Indeed, when the deal was revealed last October, Flanagan confirmed that he aims to save about $475 million in expenses by mid 2021, thanks to the merger.

"We're pleased that we're on-target to meet the cost synergy target, which is an important part of bringing the two firms together," Terrio tells MFWire.

Today the Invesco team confirmed that OpFunds' 20 ETFs have been transformed into new Invesco ETFs. Watch for OpFunds' other products to make a similar transition.

"We successfully unified the Invesco global brand [last year], and now the OppenheimerFunds brand will be retired so there will be one global Invesco brand," Terrio says.

One OpFunds area not facing the axe, it seems, is the investment side of the business. Despite various other cuts, Invesco has brought all of OpFunds' investment teams over to Invesco, Terrio confirms.

"They'll begin the integration process of working with the current Invesco investment teams," Terrio says. "We're in the process of continuing to bring the two firms together. We're excited about the opportunity to have the talent from OppenheimerFunds and Invesco."

With the close of the deal, MassMutual, OpFunds' former owner, now owns 15.7 percent of Invesco. According to the Invesco team, the deal makes the publicly traded fund firm the sixth largest retail asset manager in the U.S. and the 13th largest global investment manager.

Doyle, an alumnus of Cornell, joined OpFunds in 2009 and rose to lead HR in 2014. Earlier in his career, he worked at Merrill Lynch and Toshiba.

Lo Bessette, an alumna of Fordham Law and of the University of Michigan, joined OpFunds in 2015 and rose to general counsel in 2016. Before joining OpFunds, she worked at Jennison, Lord Abbett, Mercer, DFA, UBS, Scudder, Shearman & Sterling, and Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan.

Mintzberg, an alumnus of Harvard, joined OpFunds in 2013 and climbed to EVP in 2016. Earlier in his career, he worked at BlackRock, McKinsey, and Lerner Capital.

Pfeffer, an alumnus of the University of Delaware, joined OpFunds in 2004. Before that he worked at Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and Ernst & Whinney.


Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=59763

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