The co-founder of PIMCO, now working for Janus, another investment house, has reportedly seen a large chunk of money redeemed by the hedge fund investment tycoon, a report said.

The investment firm of hedge fund tycoon George Soros has pulled almost $500 million from an account run by Bill Gross, the bond manager who had left fixed income house PIMCO to run a new fund at Janus Capital Group, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source.

Citing data from eVestment and Pensions & Investments, the news service said figures showed that an “unidentified institutional investor” redeemed $490.1 million from the global unconstrained bond strategy run by Gross at Denver-based Janus. The money was moved by Soros Fund Management, the firm overseeing the wealth of the billionaire investor and philanthropist, the news service said.

Gross left PIMCO, the money management firm he co-founded in the early 1970s, last year. In early October, he launched a $200 million lawsuit against the firm and its Germany-headquartered parent Allianz, claiming executives drove him out because they wanted bonus payments for themselves. Initially, PIMCO was hit by the departure of Gross, whose commentaries could and did move bond and other markets. 

Bloomberg said Soros’s redemption of money is a setback for Gross, whom the report said “has struggled to attract assets at his new fund amid mediocre returns in his first year”. Gross’s fund, the $1.38 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, fell by 1.2 per cent this year, trailing 71 per cent of similar funds, the report said.

Officials for Soros, Janus and eVestment reported have declined to comment.