Invesco plans to start cutting 850 jobs at an OppenheimerFunds' Denver office, once its acquisition of the firm is complete next quarter, an Invesco spokeswoman said Friday.
The jobs affected will be back office and support roles, which are being eliminated as part of an ongoing initiative to cut costs at Invesco, the spokeswoman said in a phone interview.
The layoffs do not include investment teams, which will stay intact, the Invesco spokeswoman said.
The job cuts will occur at OppenheimerFund's 6801 S. Tucson Way office in suburban Centennial and take place after the close of the acquisition and before the end of 2019.
The eliminations will not affect sales staff, the spokeswoman added.
"The job cuts are unfortunate, but necessary for us to achieve our $475 million cost synergy target," she said. "It's important to note that the Denver office will not be closed."
The Denver office currently employs just under 1,000 staff, so employees remaining after the cuts will be investment teams and their support staff, the spokeswoman said.
In January's release of Invesco's fourth-quarter results, President and CEO Martin L. Flanagan said in a statement that Invesco "made considerable progress toward our combination with OppenheimerFunds during the quarter and are on track to meet our expense synergy target of $475 million."
On Friday, the Invesco spokeswoman confirmed that the job cuts are part of Invesco's broader cost savings initiative that began in the fourth quarter, and included canceling requests to fill open roles at the company, deferring new hires and "limiting discretionary, non-client-related travel, conferences and professional/contractor services," the firm's fourth-quarter earnings report said.
In October, Invesco announced plans to acquire New York-based manager OppenheimerFunds from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. for about $5.7 billion in stock in a deal expected to bring the Atlanta-based firm's total assets under management to around $1.2 trillion.
