DoubleLine's Gundlach ponders move into equities

NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Jeffrey Gundlach, one of the world's leading bond fund managers, said in a company webcast on Tuesday that he is considering adding equity funds to his firm's lineup.

Gundlach, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, said that an expansion into equities is more of a priority right now than adding more bond funds.

"We actually are contemplating expanding at DoubleLine into the equity market. We're looking at a couple of equity teams to bring on board to diversify and to offer other funds ultimately as we move forward," Gundlach said.

Gundlach, whose firm has more than $40 billion in assets, said he is "thinking more about equity investment as an expansion rather than another iteration of bond funds at this point" because of the broad disinterest in equities and as a hedge against inflation.

U.S.-based equity mutual funds saw a net outflow of $40.4 billion through July of this year while bond mutual funds saw a net inflow of $177.5 billion, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

Pacific Investment Management Co, the world's largest bond fund manager with $1.82 trillion in assets as of June 30, began moving into equities when it launched its first actively managed stock mutual fund in 2010.