Janus Outflows Rise to Most in a Year on Eve of Merger Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Investors pulled the most money from Janus Capital Group in a year during the third quarter as they turned increasingly to lower-cost, passively run funds, a trend the asset manager is countering by merging with Henderson Group.

Janus reported net redemptions in long-term holdings of $2.4 billion, the most since $3.3 billion in outflows in last year’s third quarter, according a statement Tuesday. The Denver-based firm, which announced on Oct. 3 that it was combining with London-based Henderson to form a $320 billion money manager, suffered redemptions in four of its last five quarters.

Firms that specialize in stock and bond picking have been losing market share to lower-cost indexers. U.S.-based actively managed funds saw clients pull $295 billion in the 12 months through September, while passively run funds benefited from deposits of $454 billion, according to Morningstar.

Net income during the third quarter rose to $41.1 million, or 22 cents a share, from $19.9 million, or 10 cents, in the year-ago period, Janus said.

Janus’s earnings after adjustments related to the Henderson deal rose to $45.3 million, or 24 cents a share. Analysts expected earnings of 23 cents on that basis.

The results were released before U.S. markets opened. Janus gained 0.8% on Monday to $13.93 in New York. They were down 1.1% this year through Monday, compared with a 14 percent loss for the 31-member Bloomberg index of large asset managers.

Assets at the firm rose to $198.9 billion as of Sept. 30 from $194.7 billion on June 30, driven by $6.7 billion in market appreciation. Janus reported outflows to its growth, global equity and fixed-income funds and those from the Intech unit, which uses mathematical strategies. The firm received inflows at the Perkins funds, which focus on value stock investing.

The fixed-income group had outflows of about $100 million during the quarter, even as the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund run by Bill Gross had deposits of almost $100 million. Gross’s $1.59 billion fund returned 5.3% this year through Oct. 21, outperforming 64% of its Bloomberg peers.Its total return was 4.3% since Gross joined Janus in October 2014 after his acrimonious departure from Pimco.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Fund performance M&A Money Management Executive
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING