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Janus Files to Roll Out No-Load Global Value Fund

Ian McDonald

As many of its tech- and telecom-heavy growth funds sputter, Janus filed papers with regulators to launch the no-load Janus Global Value fund on May 31.

The Denver fund shop, which plans to launch institutional and adviser-sold versions of the fund on May 1, designed it to have a broad palette. Fund manager Jason Yee will be able to buy stock in companies of any size, based anywhere in the world. The firm made its name running growth funds like (JAVLX Quote)Janus Twenty that focus on the often pricey and volatile shares of fast-growing shops, often in the tech or telecommunications sectors.

But this fund, like the (JSVAX Quote)Janus Strategic Value fund, will follow a different, if not less aggressive strategy: companies that appear undervalued. That said, it won't necessarily be tame, either. Yee will be able to put all of the fund's money in stocks of foreign companies or the securities traded in just one country. But Yee will typically hold stocks from at least five different countries, including the U.S, according to the fund's preliminary filings.

Yee worked at Janus from 1992 to 1996 as an analyst before joining Bee & Associates, a Denver money management shop owned by Denver Investment Advisors. He came back to Janus last April, according to the fund's paperwork, which doesn't note any previous experience calling the shots at a retail stock fund.

The fund is launching after a down year for the firm's growth funds. Many of those funds have fallen further than their peers over the last year with the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite off more than 60% from its March 10, 2000 peak. The small-cap growth (JAVTX Quote)Janus Venture fund and the big-cap growth Janus Twenty fund, both closed to new investors, are down 64.6% and 48% over the last 12 months, respectively. Both funds trail more than 90% of their peers, according to Morningstar.