PIMCO still solid despite Gross departure
The recent departure of Bill Gross from PIMCO to competitor Janus Capital was not cause for alarm with PIMCO funds offered in Australia still regarded as high quality according to research house Morningstar.
Morningstar Senior Research Analyst Kathryn Young said the departure of Gross was a long time coming, but the direction was a surprise to many, causing Morningstar to place most of PIMCO's strategies ‘Under Review' while it assesses the effect of Gross' shift on portfolios and PIMCO itself.
Young said PIMCO had already flagged a number of "meaningful portfolio manager shifts" but said local operations remain untouched with Australian domiciled funds retaining their ratings.
"Since there will be no changes at the Sydney office or the managers on PIMCO EQT Wholesale Australian Bond and PIMCO EQT Wholesale PIMCO Australian Focus we feel comfortable that they will be largely unaffected. They remain rated ‘Gold' and ‘Silver', respectively," Young said.
On a wider scale Young said that PIMCO "has been home to some of the best thinkers in the industry, besides Bill Gross, for a long time" and that it had appointed six-deputy chief investment officers (CIO) across key asset classes earlier this year, which reflected PIMCO's preparation for the eventual departure of Gross.
Gross' successor has already been announced with 16 year PIMCO veteran Dan Ivascyn taking over as group CIO with Young stating the adoption of six CIOs reporting to a group CIO demonstrated the depth of resources at PIMCO and made it less likely that other key staff would also leave.
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