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BFW 10/30 15:20 Pimco Hires Schroders’s Maisonneuve to Lead Equities Expansion
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Pimco Hires Schroders’s Maisonneuve to Lead Equities Expansion 2013-10-30 15:18:26.93 GMT
By Alexis Leondis Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Investment Management Co., the bond manager that started expanding into stocks four years ago, hired Virginie Maisonneuve from Schroders Plc to lead the push after Neel Kashkari left in January. Maisonneuve, who was head of global and international stocks at Europe’s biggest publicly traded fund company, will start in January in Pimco’s London office, according to a statement today from Newport Beach, California-based Pimco. Maisonneuve, 49, managed stock funds in Schroders’s London office for nine years, overseeing funds such as Schroder International Alpha Fund. Michael Diekmann, chief executive officer of Pimco parent Allianz SE, said earlier this month the bond manager’s expansion into stocks was proving harder than expected. Pimco, seeking to expand into stocks in anticipation of an end to the 30-year bond rally, has gathered less than 1 percent of the firm’s $1.97 trillion in assets into its four main stock mutual funds. “Virginie is a proven equity investor and leader who has delivered a track record of success for clients throughout her 25-year career as a portfolio manager and a business builder,” Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco’s chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer along with co-founder Bill Gross, said in the statement. El-Erian and Gross, whose name is synonymous with fixed- income investing, have sought to diversify beyond fixed income in anticipation of an end to the three-decade bond rally. Unlike rivals such as BlackRock Inc., which made acquisitions to move beyond bonds, Pimco chose to grow by adding managers and strategies one at a time. By hiring Maisonneuve, Pimco is hoping to reinvigorate its stock push just as investors are fleeing the bond market, removing an estimated $128 billion from fixed- income mutual funds since May.
Managing Money
Maisonneuve joins a year after the departure of Kashkari, who was hired in 2009 to oversee the unit’s expansion after earlier attempts to add stocks fizzled. Kashkari, who didn’t manage any funds, stepped down in January saying he wanted to pursue a career in public service. Maisonneuve, who joins as managing director, global head of equities and portfolio manager, joins other high-ranking women at Pimco, including Jennifer Bridwell, global head of alternative product development, Sabrina Callin, who oversees Pimco’s enhanced equity index and unconstrained bond products, and Jennifer Durham, chief compliance officer. The equity unit’s mutual funds account for about $3.8 billion of Pimco’s assets. Stock strategies including Pimco’s StocksPLUS funds, which attempt to beat the market using a combination of bonds and derivatives, total about $50 billion, according to today’s statement.
Maisonneuve’s Record
Kashkari joined Pimco after acting as senior adviser to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and also had a career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Before Schroders, Maisonneuve worked at Clay Finlay in New York as co-chief investment officer and at State Street Corp. as a stock manager focused on Asian portfolios. Maisonneuve’s $199 million Schroder International Alpha Fund, which she’s managed since 2005, returned 15 percent over the past five years, ahead of 70 percent of rival funds, and 23 percent over the past 12 months, behind 65 percent of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pimco is diversifying as Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, on track to have the worst redemptions ever this year, has lost almost $30 billion through Sept. 30, according to estimates from Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. Pimco’s U.S. mutual funds had four straight months of withdrawals starting in June, totaling $39 billion. This year through Sept. 30, the funds had $8.9 billion in net redemptions, Morningstar said. Diekmann said in an Oct. 15 interview that given Pimco’s size and significance on the bond side, the amount it’s attracted into stock funds is less significant. “It’s obviously more difficult than we expected it to be, but I’m very happy that they do this in a professional way, and not getting into sort of acquisition mode,” Diekmann said. “I don’t declare victory yet, but neither do I say it’s been a failure.”
For Related News and Information: Allianz CEO Says Pimco Equity Expansion Proving to Be Difficult NSN MURDYI6JIJUO <GO> Top Stories: TOP<GO> Top fund stories: TFUND <GO> Bloomberg fund performance: FPC <GO>
--Editors: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam, Christian Baumgaertel
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Leondis in New York at +1-212-617-5773 or aleondis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at +1-617-210-4624 or cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net