The client redemptions that plagued Bill Gross at his old job have followed him to his new one as well.
Gross's Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund suffered its first month of net withdrawals since he joined, with clients pulling $18.5 million from the fund in February, Chicago-based research firm Morningstar Inc. estimated. The redemptions left $1.45 billion in assets in the fund, which declined 0.8% this year to trail 96% of similarly managed funds, Morningstar said.
Gross joined Janus Capital Group Inc. last year after suffering continuing withdrawals in his prior role as manager of PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund. The redemptions are a setback for Gross, 70, who was hired as part of a plan to rekindle asset growth at Denver-based Janus.
"The fund has lost money and doesn't have much of a track record," said Todd Rosenbluth, director of mutual fund and exchange-traded fund research at S&P Capital IQ in New York. "It will take time before investors look to that fund as an alternative to better performing, more-seasoned mutual funds."
Gross fueled much of the fund's growth last year as assets surged from about $13 million before he joined. Richard M. Weil, chief executive officer of Janus, said on a Jan. 22 conference call that more than $700 million of the fund's assets came from Gross himself. Janus disclosed in a regulatory filing earlier this year that Gross and his family held a 51.2% stake in the global unconstrained fund at year-end.
Building Record
