Janus Capital Group cut its fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations by 6 cents a share because of an additional impairment charge of $16.2 million from the purchase of structured investment vehicles, according to an SEC filing Thursday. The company on Dec. 21 bought SIVs issued by Stanfield Victoria Funding from Janus Capital Management, a Janus Capital Group subsidiary, when the SIVs were downgraded by Moody’s Investors Services. The SIVs had been held in money market accounts.
Janus Capital wanted to protect investors from losses by removing them from the accounts and instead putting them on the public balance sheet, said Shelley Peterson, Janus spokeswoman. Janus bought the vehicles for $108.5 million.
At the time of the fourth-quarter earnings release in January, the company had estimated the charge at $2 million with diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of 30 cents per share.
