Bill Gross's fund at Janus saw first monthly outflow in February

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors pulled $18.5 million from Bill Gross's Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund in February, the first such cash withdrawal since the closely watched investor took on the portfolio in October, Morningstar said on Monday.

The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund's assets under management stood at $1.45 billion at the end of February, down from $1.46 billion at the end of January, its highest in net assets, according to Morningstar data.

"The fund has declined in value year-to-date, which given its short record, is discouraging," said Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF & mutual fund research at S&P Capital IQ Global Markets Intelligence.

"We think many investors will wait to see if Gross can establish a strong longer-term record before considering adding money."

Overall, Janus?s mutual funds saw net inflows of $449.5 million in February, Morningstar said.

Flows to Gross's new fund have been choppy. After taking in $770 million in November, the fund had net deposits of $176 million in December and just $85.6 million in January, according to Morningstar data.

In January, Janus Capital Chief Executive Dick Weil said on a conference call that Gross had pumped more than $700 million of his own money into the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.

Gross, who built Pimco into one of the largest investment firms in the world, resigned from the firm Sept. 26 to join Janus Capital Group Inc .

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bernadette Baum)