Little surprise, star manager Jeff Gundlach and DoubLine Capital top the list of the fastest growing actively managed fund managers by asset flows. The eccentric Gundlach, whose 2012 included the theft and recovery of priceless art, personal items and even his high-end sports car, somehow stayed focused enough to deliver superior returns—and investors noticed.
A wide range of mutual fund managers, small and large, have benefited from significant net inflows to their bond and stock funds, Strategic Insight finds. The research and consulting firm is out with its list of the fastest growing stock and bond mutual fund managers for 2012. The firm notes common investment themes are emerging-market bond and stock funds, nontraditional investment strategies, innovative income approaches, and bond fund leadership.
The list comprises managers with $2 billion in mutual fund assets as of year-end 2011.
The list includes many managers of small and midsize mutual funds. Noticeably, each of the listed managers enjoying more than $10 billion of net inflows during 2012 has increased their flows from 2011, some more than doubling.
"During 2012 fund managers across a wide range of strategies and size benefited from rapid expansion of their assets and clients' relationship," Avi Nachmany, Strategic Insight's director of research, said in a statement. "In 2013 we expect the range of participating managers to expand further as demand for equity funds increases."
Managers of index mutual funds and index-based exchange traded funds have benefited from dramatic expansion during 2012, as assets managed by such funds eclipsed $2.5 trillion and net inflows exceeded $250 billion. About half of these annual flows were captured by Vanguard's managed funds or ETFs, with significant gains also by BlackRock's iShare unit and by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).
"Economy of scale allows the largest providers of index strategies to pass costs savings to investors. But a number of smaller managers of index funds and ETFs also grew meaningfully last year," Nachmany added.
Check out the Top 25 Fastest Growing Mutual Fund Managers for 2012:
(JPMorgan Chase's headquarters in New York; the bank came in at No. 21
after its fund flow grew 19% for 2012. Photo: AP)
