Invesco appoints Martin Walker co-head of UK equities

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. asset manager Invesco <IVZ.N> said on Friday it had appointed Martin Walker as co-head of UK equities alongside Mark Barnett, after a tough year marked by heavy outflows of client cash.

Walker will take up his position on Jan. 1, after being asked to do so by Barnett, Invesco said in a statement. The move was first reported by Sky News.

"Mark and Martin have worked together for 20 years; they have a strong working relationship and common understanding for how they want to continue to develop the team for the future," Invesco said.

Line management duties would be split between the pair, and both would continue to run their current portfolio of funds with no changes, it added.

Barnett has come under the spotlight in recent months after a liquidity crisis forced the suspension and eventual closure of a fund managed by former Invesco manager Neil Woodford, who previously ran several of Barnett's funds.

In November, fund rating company Morningstar downgraded its assessment of Barnett's funds, citing concerns over its large holdings of small and micro-cap stocks, which are less liquid than those of larger companies.

In the year to end-September, Morningstar said Barnett's UK Strategic Income, High Income and Income funds had seen collective outflows of just over 2 billion pounds, to leave their assets at 9.1 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop and Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)