PIMCO, which claims to be the largest fixed income manager in the United States, says European institutional investors are now lapping up its bond funds. PIMCO has grown from 22 European institutional clients and e4 billion at the end of 1999 to over 60 clients and e10 billion today.
The two most popular funds within its Global Investor Series – the Total Return and High Yield Bond Funds – had attracted $299 million and $286 million, respectively, by the end of last year. Both are managed by the Newport Beach, California, based investment team, headed by founder and CIO Bill Gross, to mirror the US based Total Return Fund, the largest pooled bond fund in the world with over $50billion assets under management.
Joe McDevitt, Head of PIMCO Europe said: “The Dublin based Global Investor Series has proven to be particularly attractive to institutional investors here. Our unique approach to pooled funds, where investors have fewer administrative hassles, major diversification benefits, and flexible access to PIMCO’s array of dedicated fixed income strategies, has found favour with institutions right across Europe. We have been trading sterling and euro-based assets in London since 2001 and are currently expanding our list of funds to cater to the European market.”
The Global Investors Series provides investors with access to a range of sub funds, including seven of PIMCO’s core fixed income funds: US Dollar Liquidity, Total Return Bond, High Yield Bond, Euro Bond, Emerging Markets Bond, Global Bond Funds, Global Equity Fund and StocksPLUS product as well as -one global value equity fund, managed not by PIMCO but by OpCap Advisers, a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Capital.