State Street (STT) and DoubleLine Capital launched an ETF Tuesday, hoping to capitalize both on the continuing outflows from products sold by fixed-income rival PIMCO and the growth in DoubleLine's popularity. The new fund is called the SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL).
"We view this as a unique offering that pairs SPDR's experience as an ETF pioneer with DoubleLine's well-established investment talent," said James Ross, executive vice president and global head of SPDR Exchange Traded Funds at State Street, in a press release. "TOTL is an option for investors who are focused on strengthening their core bond exposure through an actively managed, multi-sector strategy."
The ETF will be managed by Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, along with Philip Barach, DoubleLine president, and Jeffrey Sherman, portfolio manager.
"In TOTL, we will strive to maintain the fund's portfolio investments with a shorter duration than the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index, while seeking to generate a healthy yield," explained Gundlach, in a statement. "That combination is key to meeting the fund's total return objective within a discipline of strong risk management."
DoubleLine has some $64 billion in assets under management. Its inflows were $3 billion in January, the company says. In contrast, PIMCO – which has nearly $1.7 trillion in AUM – had $11.6 billion of outflows last month.
StateStreet, which recently cut fees on 41 SPDR ETFs, is hoping to boost business after recently losing its position as the second-largest industry player. ETF.com said in mid-January that Vanguard had nearly $433 billion in assets vs. State Street's $432 billion. (Market leader BlackRock (BLK) had some $756 billion.)
