George Soros pulls $500 million investment from Bill Gross fund

George Soros’s firm pulled almost $500 million from an account run by Bill Gross, money it invested last year after the bond manager left Pacific Investment Management Co. to run a new fund at Janus Capital Group Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter.
Data from eVestment show that an unidentified institutional investor redeemed $490.1 million from the global unconstrained bond strategy run by Mr. Gross at Denver-based Janus, Pensions & Investments reported earlier. The money was pulled by Soros Fund Management, the firm overseeing the wealth of the billionaire investor and philanthropist, said the person, who asked not to be identified.
The redemption by one of the best-known money managers is a setback for Mr. Gross, who has struggled to attract assets at his new fund amid mediocre returns in his first year. Mr. Gross’s fund, the $1.38 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, has declined 1.2% this year, trailing 71% of similar funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mr. Gross personally invested $700 million in the unconstrained fund, according to a January filing.
Officials for Soros, Janus and eVestment declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier today that Soros was the unidentified investor that redeemed from Mr. Gross’s strategy.
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Quantum Partners, a private vehicle managed by Soros Fund Management, invested $500 million in a separate account with a strategy similar to Mr. Gross’s unconstrained fund, Janus said last year. Scott Bessent, Mr. Soros’s chief investment officer, visited Mr. Gross in Newport Beach the week after he joined Janus, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.
Mr. Bessent, who’s been overseeing Soros’s fortune for the last four years, will leave at the end of 2015 to start his own hedge-fund firm, Key Square Group.