Janus Capital Group Inc. said Friday it will pay back $31.5 million gained from improper trading as part of moves intended to restore investor confidence and placate regulators investigating themutual fund company.
The Denver-based company also announced tighter controls on mutual fund management, including naming an independent director as its chairman – a job that had been promised to CEO Mark Whiston. Whiston’s 2003 bonus and potential benefits were also slashed.
“We believe this is appropriate compensation for the affected funds and their shareholders,” the Independent Trustees of the Janus funds said in a letter to shareholders.
The moves do not affect investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York attorney general or Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar, who is in settlement talks with Janus over the improper trading. Janus has not formally been charged with wrongdoing, but has acknowledged some abuses did occur.
The repayment makes Janus the first company to put a dollar figure on damage done to shareholders in the market timing scandal that has swept the fund business. Market timing is a type of quick, in-and-out trading that is not illegal, but is restricted by most funds because it skims profits from long-term shareholders.
Investigators have subpoenaed dozens of fund companies and formally accused others, including Invesco Funds and Putnam Investments, of defrauding investors by allowing certain clients to market time despite policies against the practice. On Thursday, Alliance Capital Management agreed to pay $600 million to resolve state and federal allegations of market timing.
Morningstar fund analyst Dan McNeela said the company still has a long way to go to regain the trust of investors and regulators.
“We haven’t received detailed information on what role, if any, Mark Whiston played in market timing arrangements,” McNeela said.
Whiston has said ongoing investigations have kept him from saying whether he knew market timing was going on. On Friday, the company appointed Steve Scheid, a board member, as non-executive chairman effective Jan. 1, scuttling a contract that had earmarked the job for Whiston. Whiston also forfeited a cash severance payment of $20 million to $23 million. His 2003 bonus and potential benefits were also slashed.
Last fall, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced a settlement with the Canary Capital hedge fund and said it had improper trading agreements with Janus and three other fund groups.
Specifically, Spitzer said Janus allowed market timing against its own policies. Spitzer’s office did not return a message seeking comment about Janus’ repayment plan, and Salazar’s office declined comment.
The money to be paid back includes $22.8 million in net gains realized by market timers, $2.7 million that would have gone to other shareholders had market timing not occurred and $6 million in various fees.
Janus said about $25.5 million of the total will be included in fourth-quarter results along with other investigation-related charges.
The company said it had not determined whether the money will be placed in funds affected by market timing or whether it will be given directly to shareholders.
Additionally, Janus said it was eliminating “soft dollar” arrangements, in which Janus used brokerage commissions to get research or services from third parties. The company said that decision will raise expenses by about $9 million annually.
“Today’s announcement marks an important step in regaining the trust of our fund shareholders,” Whiston said. He acknowledged there was still work to be done but said management was working hard to protect shareholders.
Also Friday, Janus announced the results of an investigation into market timing by accountant Ernst & Young, which found that 10 investors were allowed to trade more frequently than other investors between November 2001 and earlier this year.
Janus has said that anyone involved has left the company.
In trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, Janus Capital shares closed up $1.08, or 7.3 percent, to $15.91.
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On the Net: http://www.janus.com
