DoubleLine Fund Trims Emerging-Market Bond Bet in Flight to Cash

(Bloomberg) -- Jeffrey Gundlach’s DoubleLine Capital cut back its wager on developing-nation debt during last month’s sell-off in favor of cash.

The $870 million DoubleLine Emerging Markets Fixed Income Fund, managed by Luz Padilla, Mark Christensen and Su Fei Koo, reduced its bond holdings from Asia and Latin America in favor of cash and cash equivalents, according to filings as of March 31. That included dumping notes sold by the Indonesian government as well as Brazilian banks and Chinese oil firms.

The portfolio’s total assets plummeted by almost one-third last month as investors abandoned riskier assets. It has returned -13% in 2020, beating 51% of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Loren Fleckenstein, a spokesman for the fund, declined to comment.

DoubleLine is among the firms flocking to cash as Gundlach and other prominent investors warn of more pain ahead. Money-market funds have experienced big inflows in recent weeks, with assets under management expanding by almost $1 trillion since the end of February to a record $4.47 trillion as of April 8, according to Investment Company Institute data.

The fund did boost two bets tied to Argentina. It scooped up distressed notes from power generator Stoneway Group LP, which just got bought by the Argentine businessman Jose Luis Manzano, and also purchased bonds from gas extractor Transportadora de Gas del Sur.

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