Burnett has worked at Martin Currie for nine years and will leave the company at the beginning of June.
Meanwhile, Townsend joined the firm in 2008 and prior to his promotion held the role of head of UK institutional and global consultant relations.
A spokesperson for the firm said Townsend’s role would is a bigger job as he is taking on Burnett’s intermediary work alongside the institutional side of the sales business that he already runs. He will be the overall head of UK distribution, she added.
Last year Martin Currie made three new hires in the UK intermediary sales team, with the appointments of Phil Raby, Mark Thompson and Pete Swan.
Raby formerly worked at JO Hambro Capital Management and is tasked with developing the firm’s intermediary business in the north of England, Midlands and South West.
Thompson joined from UBS where he was director of Asian equity sales and is responsible for developing business in London, while Swan is a graduate of Martin Currie’s internal training programme and is also based in London and the south east.
Prior to joining Martin Currie Townsend worked at Axa Investment Management/Framlington where he was head of institutional sales.
Martin Currie is one of a number of fund houses that has moved away from the UK, taking the strategic decision to focus on international equity products.
Burnett was passionate about this decision, branding the majority of UK equity fund managers as index huggers and saying more fund houses should close their offerings in this space.
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