Gross says he will beat competitors in new role at Janus - InvestmentNews
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bill Gross, who recently left Pimco where he managed the world's largest bond fund, said in no uncertain terms that he expects to be a winner in running a relatively small fund in his new role at Janus Capital Group, and expects to take a hands-on role on the investment side, InvestmentNews reported Monday.
"I'm in it to whip the pants off anybody competing on the same football field," said Gross, who co-founded Pimco more than 40 years ago. He had managed the Pimco Total Return Fund, whose assets peaked at nearly $293 billion (183 billion pound) last year.
Gross said he expected to manage about $100 million in assets in the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, and to have an "investing thrust as opposed to an executive thrust," InvestmentNews reported.
"Having a lot of people doesn't necessarily produce an efficient decision-making process," he said. "Sometimes it jams up the works." Gross said his wife, Sue, did not want him "hanging around the house all day" and persuaded him not to retire.
Gross said he will have five or six people on his team at Janus, including a trader, credit analyst and portfolio manager, and would be able to invest more in sovereign debt, emerging markets, higher-yielding credit and currencies and take on a "small amount" of stock risk.
Gross said he planned to ramp up his weekend reading in order to stay sharp: "I have to double and triple the amount of reading I do on weekends to make sure that a 70-year-old mind doesn't turn into a semi-senile 80-year-old mind."
(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Leslie Adler)
