Janus Capital Group notified shareholders of its Janus Institutional Cash Management Fund, Janus Institutional Money Market Fund, and Janus Institutional Government Money Market Fund that it "plans to exit the institutional cash management business" in a letter from Chief Executive Officer Gary Black. The letter says, "Given the meaningful changes to the competitive landscape of the instutional cash management business, Janus believes it is in the best interest of our clients to focus its institutional distribution and investment management resources on its core business of long-term equity and fixed-income investing."
The Prospectus Supplement to Janus Institutional Money Market Fund says, "The Board of Trustees of the Janus Funds has approved a plan to liquidate and terminate Janus Institutional Money Market Fund and Janus Institutional Government Money Market Fund, effective on or about April 30, 2009 or at such earlier time as may be authorized by the Trustees. This plan is reflective of Janus Capital Management LLC's analysis of the competitive institutional money market business and current trends regarding the future of that business. Effective as of January 22, 2009, the Funds will no longer accept investments by new shareholders. Effective February 2, 2009, the Funds will no longer accept investments by existing shareholders."
The filing continues, "Shareholders of the Funds may redeem or exchange their Fund shares at any time prior to the Liquidation Date. If a shareholder has not redeemed their shares as of the Liquidation Date, the shareholder's account will be automatically redeemed and proceeds will be sent to the shareholder of record. To prepare for the closing and liquidation of each Fund, the Fund's portfolio managers may need to increase the portion of the Fund's assets held in cash and similar instruments in order to pay for Fund expenses and meet redemption requests. As a result, each Fund may deviate from its stated investment policies. The liquidation and closing of the Funds to shareholders may result in large shareholder redemptions, which could adversely affect a Fund's expense ratio and yield. There is no guarantee that a Fund will maintain a positive yield."
As of Dec. 31, Janus was the 32nd largest manager of money funds, according to Money Fund Intelligence XLS, with $9.6 billion in assets. Assets had declined by $6.6 billion, or 40.7%, over the past 12 months as concerns over money fund parents without "deep pockets" and support events related to SIV Victoria Finance took their toll. The company's $2.0 billion Janus Money Market Fund will continue operations. Finally, Black's letter says to investors, "We thank you for your business over the years and would like to help make this transition as smooth as possible."
