By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - TCW, an investment firm that is a major rival of Pimco, posted roughly $1 billion in net inflows into its Metropolitan West Total Return Bond Fund
Last Friday Bill Gross, one of the bond market's most renowned investors, quit Pimco for distant rival Janus Capital Group Inc
TCW, which is overseen by Tad Rivelle, chief investment officer of fixed-income, ranks in the top 25 fund families and has attracted the strongest net inflows so far this year, with Vanguard at No. 1 with net inflows of $86.5 billion, according to Morningstar data. Riville had worked for Gross at Pimco.
Eric Jacobson, senior analyst at Morningstar, said the huge inflows since Friday "makes me wonder if it was a few big accounts or maybe some allocators who have been thinking about jumping and just decided when Bill bailed."
Long-time rivals including Los Angeles-based TCW and Jeffrey Gundlach's DoubleLine are among the biggest beneficiaries of client money fleeing the Newport Beach, California-based Pimco.
DoubleLine, also based in Los Angeles, said on Wednesday its flagship DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)