Denver fund giant Janus Capital Group on Tuesday appointed a new manager for its flagship Janus Fund, which since 2000 has mostly failed to outperform its peers.
It is one of the first significant public moves taken by investment chief Gary Black, who took over as chief executive Jan. 1.
David Corkins, current portfolio manager for the Janus Mercury Fund, on Feb. 1 will take over the Janus Fund. With $11.2 billion in assets, it is Colorado’s largest mutual fund.
Corkins, 39, succeeds Blaine Rollins, who will manage the smaller Janus Triton Fund, a growth fund that invests in small and midsized companies and had $43 million in assets at the end of the year.
Janus Triton had been run by Ron Sachs, who will continue to manage the Janus Orion Fund, a growth fund he has headed since its inception in 2000.
The shake-up is an indication that senior managers lost faith in Rollins’ ability to deliver solid returns for the company’s namesake fund, said Adam Bold, chief investment officer for the Mutual Fund Store, an Overland Park, Kan.-based investment adviser.
“They gave Rollins a reasonable amount of time and he hasn’t gotten the job done, so it’s time to get a new quarterback in there,” Bold said. “I applaud them for that.”
Asked about Rollins running the Triton Fund, Bold said, “I’d rather have him get better picking stocks with someone else’s money, not mine.”
Janus, known for its growth- style investment approach, emerged as one of the nation’s largest mutual-fund companies in the 1990s.
The company stumbled during the recent bear market, became embroiled in an industrywide market-timing scandal and watched as investors pulled money from its funds.
More recently, Janus has attracted steady inflows of money, expanded its profit margins and improved fund performance, according to analyst reports.
However, returns from the Janus Fund failed to match the company’s other offerings, said Dan McNeela, a senior analyst at Chicago-based mutual-fund researcher Morningstar.
Rollins “didn’t have a clear sense of where the fund was headed,” said McNeela, who follows Janus for Morningstar.
Under Rollins in 2005, the Janus Fund returned 4 percent, lagging its category peers by 2.5 percentage points.
The fund, established in 1970 and run by Rollins since 2000, failed to outperform its large- cap peers every year since 2000 with the exception of 2003, when it returned 31.7 percent and peers returned 29 percent.
Corkins joined Janus in 1995 and rose inside the organization by managing the more conservative Janus Growth and Income Fund from 1997 to 2003. Under his guidance, the fund earned a five-star rating from Morningstar based on risk-adjusted returns.
The Mercury Fund, which Corkins has headed since February 2003, returned 6.8 percent in 2005 and 16 percent during the past three years, outperforming its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index, during that time.
“The winners in this are the Janus Fund investors,” said McNeela. “He’s arguably Janus’ best manager.”
Janus CEO and chief investment officer Black, in a statement issued Tuesday, called Corkins “a classic growth manager with a disciplined and consistent investment style, which makes him a great fit to manage (the) Janus Fund.”
Also Tuesday, Janus promoted Jonathan Coleman, portfolio manager for the Janus Enterprise Fund, and David Decker, portfolio manager of Janus Contrarian Fund, to act as co-chief investment officers. The pair will act as “player-coaches,” overseeing Janus’ growth and core portfolio managers.
Publicly traded Janus manages $139.4 billion in assets. Its shares closed Tuesday up 46 cents, or 2.17 percent, to $21.65.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
