Portfolio managers Jeff Grills and Gunter Heiland, co-heads of the emerging markets debt team, have left JPMorgan Asset Management, Dow Jones reports. Their replacement, whose identity will be announced next week, hails from another well-known investment manager and possesses "star power," the report quoted a source as saying.

Four other members of the emerging markets debt team remain with JPMorgan.

Grills joined JPMorgan in 1993. Heiland joined the firm in 1997 following a seven-year stint at Salomon Brothers.

The two managed about $7 billion of assets, the report stated. One of their mutual funds available in the US, the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Debt Fund, advanced 30 percent this year, according to Morningstar data. By comparison, emerging market bonds, as measured by JPMorgan Emerging Market Index Global, gained nearly 20 percent.

The fund, however, was down 6.7 percent in the past 12 months, compared to a 5.4 percent rise in the benchmark index. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE