Janus Assets Decline in August

Mutual fund manager Janus Capital said on Thursday its assets under management dropped 0.9% in August to $127.8 billion from $129 billion at the end of July

The Denver-based has been bleeding assets at an alarming rate after its tech-heavy growth funds collapsed with the bear market and the firm was slapped with a hefty lawsuit over trading abuses.

Top executives have since left Janus and the company agreed to a $226 million settlement with state and federal regulators for its involvement in a market-timing scheme that proved harmful to long-term shareholders of its funds. As part of the settlement, Janus has implemented new policies and procedures to beef up compliance and curtail improper trading practices.

Janus said that the company’s redemptions, excluding money market funds, "continue to improve" and are their lowest level since November 1998. Total net outflows in August were $1.4 billion. The firmwide average assets under management during August fell 3.7% to roughly $126.5 billion from $131.4 billion the previous month.

Janus also announced that it hired former Morgan Stanley executive Dominic Martellaro as senior vice president and managing director of its global intermediary distribution arm. In his new post, Martellaro will spearhead the company’s initiatives to expand defined contribution, sub-advised, insurance and broker/dealer businesses.

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