Janus Capital Group saw more than $1 billion of estimated net deposits into two bond mutual funds in October after hiring star manager William H. Gross.
The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which Mr. Gross started managing last month, drew about $364 million in client deposits in its first full month with the bond legend at the helm, bringing assets to $442.9 million through Oct. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Janus Flexible Bond Fund, a core bond strategy, saw $821 million of deposits in the month, pushing assets to $8.4 billion.
“We are encouraged by the level of interest we are seeing across many of our funds, including our Flexible Bond Fund and Global Unconstrained Bond Fund,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “Management believes we will continue to have unusual levels of opportunities, particularly in institutional fixed income, over the next year or more.”
Janus is seeking to raise its profile and rebuild a brand damaged by missteps and departures of money managers. In addition to hiring Mr. Gross, the firm recently agreed to buy VelocityShares to expand in exchange-traded products, the fastest-growing part of the fund industry. The firm said it had about $1.1 billion in U.S. mutual fund deposits last month, the first time in more than three years that clients on balance added money.
Janus had $174 billion under management as of Sept. 30. At its peak in 2000, it had $325 billion.
