Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO) is a money manager specializing in fixed income management. We are headquartered in Newport Beach, California and have offices in New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, and Munich. PIMCO was founded in 1971 as a subsidiary of Pacific Mutual Insurance Company (now known as Pacific Life) and today has become one of the largest investment management firms in the world. Our clients are both retail and institutional, including some of the largest corporations, non-profit organizations, foundations, endowments, unions and governments.
PIMCO also has expanded its depth and coverage as fixed income markets have become more specialized and globalized over the last 37 years. Our expertise and significant resources are committed to virtually every segment of the investable universe including commodities, real estate and equities. We strive to provide investors with the highest standard of excellence in asset management. Our commitment to superior client service and our goal of outperforming the major bond indices, in both bull and bear markets, distinguish us as a leading money manager.
PIMCO enjoys a stable business organization and many of PIMCO’s founders are still active in our management. For an extended timeline of PIMCO’s history, click here.
Describe PIMCO’s Portfolio Management - Account Management organizational structure.
One of the structural decisions made by the founders of PIMCO was to separate our Investment Professional group into portfolio management/trading and client servicing. While many of our peers combine the client servicing role with the portfolio management role, we feel that a separation of these responsibilities has been key to our success in providing top-tier performance together with a high level of client service. As they rarely interact with clients directly, our Portfolio Managers are able to focus solely on valuing/trading securities and managing portfolios to deliver the highest level of relative performance possible. At the same time, client servicing Account Managers - who are expected to have the same level of financial market expertise as Portfolio Managers - are charged with focusing the majority of their efforts on delivering the highest level of client service possible. Client servicing Account Managers are responsible for monitoring investment portfolios for consistent application of investment strategies and compliance with client guidelines, keeping clients well informed about PIMCO’s strategy and outlook, educating clients about a broad set of products and services and other client servicing requirements/communication. Client servicing Account Managers also have the opportunity to specialize in a particular product (mortgages, corporates, high yield, StocksPLUS, emerging markets, international, etc.) and to work with Portfolio Managers on new product development. The marketing Account Management group is responsible for identifying and actively pursuing client prospects, although the product specialists within the client servicing group assist in this effort by providing product profiles and other collateral materials and also by participating in final presentations to prospects on an as needed basis. Despite our asset growth over the last several years, our philosophy at PIMCO is to maintain a lean professional staff and worldwide we have a total of 1055 employees and 373 Investment Professionals (as of June 30, 2008). In addition to their client servicing, marketing and trading/portfolio management responsibilities, all Investment Professionals are expected to actively participate in the investment strategy process. (Back to Top)
Describe PIMCO’s Investment Strategy Process.
The investment strategy process begins with an annual Secular Forum in which Portfolio Managers and Account Managers convene off-site for three days. During this time leading industry experts are invited, in addition to PIMCO Investment Professionals, to give presentations on various economic and financial topics. These presentations are followed by discussions among PIMCO’s Investment Professionals regarding the outlook for the economy and interest rates over the next three to five years. At the completion of the discussions, the Investment Professionals collectively determine a bullish, neutral or bearish outlook, which results in a forecast for Treasury bond yields over a three to five year period, and firm-wide duration ranges for the next twelve months. Quarterly, Portfolio Managers and Account Managers attend Economic Forums held at PIMCO to discuss near term macroeconomic trends and to establish a cyclical strategy. The Portfolio Management group is then responsible for developing portfolio structures and selecting specific issues, subject to client guidelines and the firm’s overall strategy targets. After the completion of the investment strategy formulation process initiated by a Secular or Economic forum, or any time there is a change in investment strategy, the updated strategy is actively communicated to clients. This communication is the responsibility of Account Managers and occurs in the form of telephone conversations, in-person meetings and presentations, quarterly investment reports and various other forms of correspondence. Clients are encouraged to request their Account Manager to explain in detail any part of the current investment strategy that needs further clarification. (Back to Top)
What are the attributes of the offices in Newport Beach, California and New York City?
Newport Beach, California is located about 50 miles south of Los Angeles along the California coast and neighbored by Huntington Beach to the north, Laguna Beach to the south and the communities of Costa Mesa and Irvine to the east. Newport Beach is also less than an hour’s boat ride to Santa Catalina Island to the west. The temperature typically ranges between 70 - 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 55 - 70 degrees at night. Newport Beach and the surrounding areas host a large variety of year-round outdoor activities including, but not limited to: waterskiing, boating, fishing, golf, mountain biking, road biking, swimming, surfing, scuba diving, running and tennis. For snow skiing/boarding enthusiasts, Newport is a two hour drive from the Bear Mountain ski area, a five hour drive from Mammoth Mountain and a one - two hour flight to Lake Tahoe, Salt Lake City and Whistler, BC. Our offices are located just off the Pacific Coast Highway and, while the stories of traffic in Los Angeles are legendary, the majority of employees at PIMCO have less than a 30-minute commute every day. Visit the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce web site at: www.newportbeach.com
PIMCO opened the New York Office in the first quarter of 2001 in an effort to bring client servicing closer to our clients. We currently have ten Account Managers and four Account Associates servicing hundreds of clients from Maine to the Carolinas. Our team of Account Managers services institutional funds clients and institutional separate account clients. In addition, we have an Account Manager for our Consultant Relations Group who covers consulting firms for PIMCO in the northeast. Also in New York is the Electronic Business Group servicing, via the electronic distribution of insightful bond information, both client and marketing channels. The New York office is located on Avenue of the Americas in midtown New York, a bustling area that is one of the financial centers of the city. (Back to Top)