AIM Investments, which has been plagued for several years with persistent outflows from its domestic equity funds, today unveiled a makeover that includes a name change.
Effective immediately, the Houston-based company, which is a subsidiary of Invesco Ltd. of Atlanta, will be known as Invesco Aim.
The move reflects the 32-year-old company's effort to more closely align itself with Invesco's reputation as a large, global investment manager with 5,000 employees and offices in 20 countries.
The re-branding, which has been in the works for the past two years, is also the culmination of Martin L. Flanagan's efforts to reshape the company since assuming the role of president and chief executive in August 2005.
"We are part of a global organization offering distinctive investment mandates from around the globe," said Phil Taylor, senior managing director of Invesco's North American business. "We have a broad and compelling all-weather product line that goes beyond mutual funds."
As part of the re-branding, the company has also abandoned its green-and-white logo, which depicts the letter "A," in favor of an image of Ama Dablam, a well-known mountain in the Himalayan range of eastern Nepal.
The new logo is intended to convey a sense of stability, endurance, strength and longevity, Mr. Taylor said.
AIM and Invesco were caught up in the mutual fund market-timing scandal in 2003. In 2004, both companies agreed to pay a total of $375 million in a related cash settlement.
"For a variety of reasons — one could have been the mutual fund scandal — they have had a difficult time trying to jump-start the sales," said Geoff Bobroff, a Greenwich, R.I.-based mutual fund consultant.
Last year, investors yanked $7 billion more from AIM's domestic equity funds than they put in, according to Financial Research Corp. of Boston.
While that's not good, it's a significant improvement from 2006 and 2005, when net outflows totaled $9.5 billion and $11.9 billion, respectively. In 2004, net outflows totaled $12.7 billion, according to FRC.
It's unclear whether a re-branding will help in stemming those outflows, industry observers say.
"The market is not kind to domestic equity managers right now," Mr. Bobroff said. "Do you want to spend a lot of money re-branding yourselves in this market?"
AIM had taken previous steps to improve its image.
Its management team, for example, was replaced in the wake of the market-timing scandal.
"We've worked hard so that continues to be seen in the rearview mirror," Mr. Taylor said of the scandal.
In recent years, AIM has also moved to diversify its lineup of mutual funds. Today, about 31% of its $165 billion in assets is in growth stocks, down from 33% in 2005 and 40% in 2000, according to the company.
Also, the firm has made some 110 fund merger and mandate changes, Mr. Taylor said.
"We are more balanced," he added.
In addition, the firm has re-vamped its stock-picking strategy away from focusing on stock price and earnings momentum to more fundamental analyses of companies, said Michael Herbst, fund analyst at the Chicago-based research firm Morningstar Inc.
"I think it remains to be seen if the re-branding will boost sales, but I do feel that changes at AIM in their portfolio manager lineup have been positive," he said.
E-mail Sue Asci at sasci@investmentnews.com.
