Jeffrey Gundlach's DoubleLine Capital launched on Tuesday its first actively managed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF, contending with the Pimco Total Return Active Exchange-Traded Fund which was previously run by Bill Gross.

The SPDR DoubleLine ETF, or TOTL, will invest as much as 25 percent in corporate and sovereign high-yield debt, up to 15 percent in securities denominated in foreign currencies, up to 20 percent in non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial MBS and asset-backed securities and a maximum of 25 percent in emerging markets, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The day-to-day management of the fund will be led by Gundlach, Philip Barach and Jeffrey Sherman, and will be administrated by State Street Global Advisors, according to the filing. TOTL will cost a net of 55 basis points in expense ratio, or $55 per $10,000 invested.

"Similar to Pimco's BOND ETF, I think it will be very popular for diversified fixed-income exposure with intraday liquidity, and a star manager running it," David Schawel, vice president and portfolio manager of Square 1 Financial, said about Gundlach and DoubleLine's new ETF. TOTL will trade on the NYSE Arca.

Gundlach, one of the most widely followed fixed-income investors in the market, and his Los Angeles-based DoubleLine have been beneficiaries of the withdrawal and performance issues that have plagued Allianz's Pacific Investment Management Co.

In 2014, the Pimco Total Return Active ETF, previously managed by Gross who abruptly departed Pimco on Sept. 26, had net withdrawals of $1.2 billion, according to Morningstar data. The portfolio had assets under management of $2.4 billion as of the end of January. Overall, investors pulled $150 billion from Pimco's U.S. open-end mutual funds for all of last year.

Conversely, the DoubleLine Funds had $10.8 billion in net inflows in 2014. That figure was for its mutual funds, not including mutual funds DoubleLine subadvises. DoubleLine Capital managed $64 billion across all funds and accounts as of Dec. 31.

Sherman, one of the portfolio managers on the SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF, told Reuters in a telephone interview that DoubleLine and State Street have been working on the ETF for more than a year.

"We've been getting reverse inquiries asking for this product and have been working on this for a long time," Sherman said. "To say we are late to the game of actively managed ETFs is fine by us. We wanted to do it correctly."

In a statement, Gundlach said: "DoubleLine was founded on the idea of striving to deliver better risk-adjusted returns across our different investment strategies. In TOTL, we will strive to maintain the fund's portfolio investments with a shorter duration than the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index while seeking to generate a healthy yield."