DoubleLine hires Pimco exec as Gundlach seeks expansion

DoubleLine Capital hired Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Ignacio Sosa as director for a newly created product solutions group as chief executive Jeffrey Gundlach looks to expand outside the U.S. Mr. Sosa, who worked at Pimco as executive vice president for global bond product management until last week, will join DoubleLine on May 12, reporting to Mr. Gundlach, the firm said in a statement Monday. The unit will develop investment products and new business lines, especially outside the U.S., according to the statement. Mr. Gundlach has built DoubleLine into a $49 billion investment firm in just over four years after he was dismissed from TCW Group Inc. Asset growth has reversed in the past year as investors steer away from fixed income. (More: Fidelity, DoubleLine take different emerging-markets bond approach but have something in common) “Startups of equity boutiques happen all the time, but for decades, fixed-income assets have remained largely concentrated among a few investment firms because launches of new bond managers are rare events,” Mr. Sosa said in the release. “DoubleLine has proven the happy exception since its founding.” The DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund Gundlach runs has grown to $31.8 billion since inception in April 2010. It's advanced 2.6% this year to beat 94% of its peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mr. Sosa joined Pimco in 2011 as lead emerging-markets product manager. Prior to that, he was a managing director at Voras Capital Management. He left Pimco, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund, as it struggles to stanch redemptions. (Bloomberg News)