MarketsMuse.com ETF update profiles the embracement of exchange-traded funds on the part of one of the investment industry’s most intriguing mutual fund innovators, courtesy of excerpt from 18 April 19 story from InvestmentNews.com

Jeffrey Gundlach is no stranger to striking out on his own or launching new products. After an acrimonious split with the TCW Group Inc. in 2009, he did just that, building what has become a $63 billion business with 12 mutual funds.

But when it came to starting an exchange-traded fund, his Los Angeles-based firm, DoubleLine Capital, needed some convincing, according to David LaValle, head of ETF capital markets in the U.S. at State Street Corp.’s money management unit.

“Why would they want to be in this space when [they] have a successful franchise,” said Mr. LaValle, speaking at an industry conference in New York on April 1. Ultimately, though, ETFs access “a totally different investor base” than mutual funds, Mr. LaValle said.

Mr. Gundlach has said he remains ambivalent about just how popular ETFs will become. But, on the sidelines of a massive ETF industry conference he keynoted in Hollywood, Fla., in January, he said he wasn’t going to take any chances. “I want to be involved, certainly, and not left behind,” he told a reporter.

In little more than a month since the launch of his first actively managed ETF, in partnership with State Street, the SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL) has become one of the largest ETFs of its kind. At $240 million, TOTL’s assets are still a pittance compared with the $117 billion in the world’s largest bond mutual fund, Pimco Total Return (PTTAX).

For the entire story from InvestmentNews.com, please click here