Oh how the mighty have fallen. Data disclosed on Wednesday reveals Pimco’s Total Return Fund has now sunk below the $100 billion mark to $98.5 billion – a third of its size just two years ago.
The shriveling titan has now chalked up 28 consecutive months of outflows since April 2013 when it peaked at $293 billion.
The departure of co-founder and “Bond King” Bill Gross – who shocked the investment world by shimmying over to rival Janus Capital last year – has not helped.
The last time the fund was this small was in 2007 before it attracted mountains of cash from investors clamoring for the safety of bonds in the wake of the financial crisis.
On plus side the outflow has slowed. The firm said investors yanked around $1.8 billion in assets from the fund in August, compared to $2.5 billion the previous month.
The hemorrhaging is nowhere near as bad as it was in January when the fund had cash withdrawals of $11.6 billion. The fund has also delivered returns of 0.72% so far this year, beating 85% of its category peers, Reuters reports.
Photo: Eli Christman