MutualFundWire.com: Janus' Other Bond Bigwig Is Leaving

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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Janus' Other Bond Bigwig Is Leaving

A bond bigwig is preparing to say goodbye to Janus [profile]. And no, it's not Bill Gross.

Gibson Smith
Janus Capital Group
Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income

Dick Weil, CEO of the Denver-based, publicly-traded mutual fund shop, confirms that on March 31, fundamental fixed income chief investment officer Gibson Smith, 47, will leave Janus to, in the press release's words, "step back from the business and spend more time with his family." Two members of Smith's team, Darrell Watters, 52 and Chris Diaz, 41, will rise up to take Smith's place. And equities and asset allocation CIO Enrique Chang, 52, will become head of investments.

Chang joined Janus two years ago, after serving as CIO at American Century. He will oversee both the fundamental fixed income and asset allocation teams.

Christopher Diaz
Janus Capital Group
Head of Global Rates, Portfolio Manager

Diaz, a 4-year Janus veteran, will become head of global fundamental fixed income. He most recently served as lead PM for Janus' Global Multi-Sector strategy and as head of global rates. He previously led the global rates group at what is now Voya Investment Management.

Watters, a 22-year Janus veteran, will become head of U.S. domestic fundamental fixed income. He most recently PMed Janus' Flexible Bond, Global Bond, High-Yield, Real Return, and Short-Term Bond funds, and he previously worked as a muni bond trader at Piper Jaffray.

The move doesn't appear to directly connect with Gross' work at Janus. Gross, who jumped to Janus 14 months ago, is part of Janus' other fixed income team, the global macro fixed income team.

Enrique Chang
Janus Capital Group
Chief Investment Officer, Equities and Asset Allocation, Portfolio Manager

"The distinction was made when Bill was hired," Janus spokeswoman Erin Passan tells MFWire, describing the approaches of the two fixed income teams as "fundamentally different."

The global macro side got a big boost this summer when Janus bought Sydney, Australia-based, $6.6-billion global unconstrained fixed income manager Kapstream Capital. Meanwhile, Smith's fundamental fixed income team of more than 35 people has about $35 billion in AUM. Across all of its investing teams, Janus had about $185 billion in AUM on September 30.

Smith, an alumnus of the University of Colorado at Boulder, joined Janus in January 2001, and he rose to CIO of fixed income in 2006. Prior to joining Janus he worked at Morgan Stanley.

Darrell Watters
Janus Capital Group
Portfolio Manager

Weil praises Smith as "an excellent investor and an exceptional leader" who has made "significant contributions to Janus over the past 15 years." Smith called the fundamental fixed income team "a second family" to him.

Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=53075

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