Newton's US head Laing joins Invesco Perpetual

Newton's Simon Laing has joined Invesco Perpetual as head of US equity fund management.

He will take on the management of the £332m US Equity fund and will also be involved with the global equity team.

At Newton he was director of investment management for North American equities and co-chairman of the equity strategy group.

He joined Newton as a research analyst before moving into portfolio management in 2000.

Nick Mustoe, Invesco Perpetual CIO, said the appointment demonstrates the group's commitment to US equities and its ambitions in global equities.

The fund has fallen 0.8% in last year, compared to a 2.1% average gain for IMA North America sector. Over three years to 11 November the fund has delivered 26.6%, underperforming the sector average 39.1%.

Former manager Andrew Shard joined the group in January 2008 with the remit of turning the fund's performance around, taking over from Bob Yerbury. However, performance failed to pick up and Shard left the firm in July

Newton's parent company BNY Mellon Asset Management said it is planning to change the investment adviser and name of its US fund following Laing's departure.

The group is not looking for a direct replacement for replace Laing, who ran the £57m Newton American fund, its only US equity offering.

BNY Mellon boutique the Boston Company Asset Management will become investment adviser on the fund from early 2012.

Newton CIO Jeff Munroe said: "We thank Simon for the job he has done at Newton. His departure presented the opportunity to review how we cover US equities for our clients in the future.

"Our 21 career global industry analysts are charged with looking at their sectors on a global basis, without the hindrance of the constraints imposed by geographical borders.

"Likewise, our 28 global fund managers are tasked with challenging and supplementing this research with their own and to create portfolios of directly held securities. As a result, we retain strong coverage of US equities from various angles."