Bill Gross' Janus Global Unconstrained assets surpass $1 billion

By Jennifer Ablan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund (JUCAX.O), which Pimco co-founder Bill Gross started managing in October, attracted an estimated $770 million in November, bringing its assets to more than $1.2 billion, according to Morningstar data released on Monday.

Last month, Soros Fund Management LLC, which famed investor George Soros chairs, invested $500 million with Gross. A Janus spokesman said the November flows from Morningstar do not include the Soros figures.

"We are doing exciting things here at Janus Capital and are pleased it is beginning to be recognized by clients and advisors," a Janus spokesman said in a statement. "Our story features Bill Gross and his Global Unconstrained Bond fund, of course, but has been underway for some time and is much deeper than Bill alone."

Gross, who built Pimco into one of the largest investment firms in the world, resigned from there on Sept. 26 to join Janus.

Overall, Janus Capital Group Inc (JNS.N) posted inflows of $680.3 million in November, the second consecutive month of inflows since the first quarter 2010. In November, various funds had outflows totaling $596.9 million, with others drawing inflows of $1.3 billion, Morningstar said.

"We believe the traction our team has generated will continue," the Janus spokesman said. "Management believes we will continue to have unusual levels of opportunities, particularly in institutional fixed income, over the next year or more."

The Janus Global Unconstrained portfolio's assets were $443 million as of Oct. 31, the same month Gross took over, compared with only $12 million at the end of May, according to Morningstar.

The inflows into Gross' Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund in November came as Pacific Investment Management Co posted net outflows of $12.59 billion across its open-ended funds in November. That was down considerably from $48.3 billion of cash withdrawals the previous month, Morningstar data showed.

The majority of last month's Pimco redemptions came from the firm's flagship Total Return Fund, which Gross previous managed.

Last week, Gross advised investors to curb risk-taking going into 2015 as global markets are reaching "the point of low return" and diminishing liquidity.

"Raise asset quality, reduce duration, and prepare for at least a halt of asset appreciation engineered upon a false central bank premise of artificial yields, QE (Quantitative Easing) and the trickling down of faux wealth to the working class," Gross said.

(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Von Ahn)