Drama continues to swirl around TCW Group, which on Friday made a surprise announcement that it was buying Metropolitan West Asset Management and firing chief investment officer Jeff Gundlach, whom TCW claims had threatened to leave and take key staffers with him.

Jeffrey Gundlach

To read the rest of the story of the fight between Gundlach and TCW, click here.

On Saturday, two senior managers of TCW's mortgage-backed securities funds, Philip Barach and Louis Lucido, quit the company, The Los Angeles Times reported.

On Sunday, Gundlach told the paper that he was "inappropriately ousted" and denied TCW's claims that he had threatened to depart the firm and take top staffers along with him.

Gundlach said TCW's parent, French bank Societe Generale, decided to remove him "in an ill-advised cost-saving measure."

He also said he was examining the "best platform" to return to money management, either by starting his own company or joining an established asset manager.

Gundlach told the pub that his phone "has been ringing off the hook" with calls from clients since Friday.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gundlach said he only brought up the prospect of leaving with his team when he got wind of a plan to oust him.

TCW spokeswoman Erin Freeman was quoted in media reports as saying that Gundlach "threatened to leave TCW and take key personnel with him. This would have impaired our ability to manage clients' fixed-income assets and we were left with no choice but to look for an alternative to ensure continuity and stability in managing clients' assets."

TCW announced its MetWest purchase and Gundlach's departure on Friday afternoon.

A source told The MFWire on Friday that MetWest CIO Tad Rivelle and several key investment professionals from MetWest will become TCW employees effective immediately and take on portfolio management duties for TCW's high-grade fixed income client accounts. The rest of MetWest's staff will become TCW employees when the deal closes in the first quarter.

Societe Generale in January revealed plans to list TCW on a stock exchange within a couple of years. Later on, SocGen and TCW tapped Citigroup's investment-banking group to explore strategic alternatives for TCW.

Gundlach told the LA Times that in September, he made an offer to TCW chief executive Marc Stern to lead a $700-million buyout, but didn't hear back on his offer.  

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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