Janus unconstrained fund attracts least net new money since Bill Gross took over

Investors may be taking a wait-and-see approach to the fund, which received an estimated $85.6 million in January.

Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund attracted an estimated $85.6 million in net new money in January, the lowest amount since Pacific Investment Management Co.’s former investment chief Bill Gross took over as manager in October.

The deposits brought assets in the fund to about $1.5 billion at the end of January, according to Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. The fund attracted about $175 million in December, according to the research firm’s estimates.

“I would have guessed he would attract more money,” Steve Roge, a money manager at Bohemia, New York-based R.W. Roge & Co., said in a telephone interview. “I guess investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” said Mr. Roge, who oversees $225 million and pulled his money from Mr. Gross’s prior fund, Pimco Total Return, after his departure.

Mr. Gross, who began running the Janus fund on Oct. 6 after his surprise exit from Pimco, fueled much of fund’s growth last year as assets surged from about $13 million before he joined. Janus Chief Executive Dick Weil disclosed on a Jan. 22 conference call that more than $700 million of the fund’s assets came from Mr. Gross himself.

Mr. Gross and his family held a 51.2% stake in the fund as of Dec. 31, according to a Janus filing last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a market value of about $739 million at year-end.

Janus Global Unconstrained’s returns have been mostly flat this year, trailing 77% of peers, according to data from Morningstar.