Gundlach’s DoubleLine bond fund hits $1 billion in assets
DoubleLine Capital, the L.A. money management firm founded by ex-TCW Group executive Jeffrey Gundlach in December, said Friday that its flagship bond mutual fund had accumulated $1 billion in assets in less than three months.
The milestone may help Gundlach as he seeks to attract investors who had invested with him at TCW before the firm ousted him in a bitter breakup Dec. 4.
The DoubleLine Total Return Bond fund has been the fastest-growing new mutual fund of 2010, according to Morningstar Inc. The fund, which invests mostly in mortgage-backed securities, was launched April 6 and is up 7.4% since then, according to Bloomberg News data.
It has far outperformed the nation’s biggest bond fund, Pimco Total Return, which is up 2.4% since April 6.
Gundlach, 50, got some high-profile fund industry exposure this week when he gave the keynote address at Morningstar’s annual investment conference in Chicago. He gave a bearish view of the economy, predicting a double-dip recession.
Gundlach was TCW’s chief investment officer — and star fund manager — before the firm fired him, alleging that he had threatened to leave and take his investment team with him. Within days of his ouster, Gundlach formed DoubleLine. Within weeks, more than 40 of his TCW co-workers had jumped ship to join him.
TCW and Gundlach have since sued each other. TCW, which managed about $115 billion as of March 31, alleges that Gundlach stole proprietary information to help launch his new venture. Gundlach alleges that TCW fired him to avoid having to share as much as $1.25 billion in fees from assets he oversaw.
The TCW Total Return Bond fund, which had been the firm’s flagship mutual fund under Gundlach, reached $12 billion in assets last year. Many investors fled the fund after his ouster; the portfolio now holds about $5 billion.
With the new DoubleLine Total Return Bond fund, Gundlach has been hoping to attract more of the money that was yanked from the TCW fund. A chunk of that cash is believed to have gone to the Pimco fund.
