Merian brings Bill Gross subadvised $200 million bond fund in-house

Merian Global Investors, the £28.9 billion ($37.8 billion) U.K.-based money manager, said Friday it has brought management of its $196 million Merian Total Return USD Bond fund in-house, effective April 25.

The fund previously had been subadvised by Bill Gross, Janus Henderson Investors' high-profile bond manager, who retired from the firm March 1.

Merian said in a news release that the fund — renamed the Merian Global Dynamic Bond fund — now is being managed by Mark Nash, Merian's head of global bonds, and Nick Wall, fund manager.

At the same time, the firm announced a number of changes to the fund's investment approach, providing greater latitude for its portfolio managers.

Among those changes, the fund is eliminating a restriction that a minimum of 80% of its assets be held in U.S. dollar-denominated fixed-income securities, increasing its scope for investing in below-investment-grade corporate bonds and switching its benchmark to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate index from the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond index.

A Janus Henderson spokesman declined to comment.