Firm Names Andrew Balls, Mark Kiesel, Virginie Maisonneuve, Scott Mather and Mihir Worah Chief Investment Officers
• Mr. Kiesel, Mr. Mather and Mr. Worah named Portfolio Managers for Total Return Fund
• Saumil Parikh, Mr. Ivascyn, and Mohsen Fahmi named Portfolio Managers for Unconstrained Bond Fund
• Douglas Hodge and Jay Jacobs continue in their roles as Chief Executive Officer and President
PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has elected Daniel Ivascyn to serve as Group Chief Investment Officer (“Group CIO”), succeeding William H. Gross who has left the firm. In addition, the firm appointed Andrew Balls, CIO Global; Mark Kiesel, CIO Global Credit; Virginie Maisonneuve, CIO Equities; Scott Mather, CIO U.S. Core Strategies; and Mihir Worah, CIO Real Return and Asset Allocation. Douglas Hodge, PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer, and Lew “Jay” Jacobs, President, will continue to serve as the firm’s senior executive leadership team, spearheading PIMCO’s business strategy, client service and the firm’s operations.
The firm also appointed Mr. Mather, Mr. Kiesel and Mr. Worah as Portfolio Managers for the Total Return Fund. Saumil Parikh, Mohsen Fahmi, and Mr. Ivascyn will serve as Portfolio Managers for the Unconstrained Bond Fund. As Group CIO, Mr. Ivascyn will continue to oversee the firm’s alternatives strategies, structured credit, and income strategies. Chris Dialynas, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, will return to the firm from sabbatical during the fourth quarter of 2014. These changes and appointments are effective immediately.
Said Mr. Hodge: “As part of our responsibilities to our clients, employees and parent, PIMCO has been developing a succession plan for some time to ensure that the firm is well prepared to manage a seamless leadership transition in its Portfolio Management team. We have passed the torch of leadership to a team of investors who are among the very best in the investment management industry. They are seasoned, highly skilled professionals who embody PIMCO’s values and have established track records of delivering value to clients.”
Mr. Hodge continued: “Today’s announcement marks the completion of our portfolio management succession process. These appointments are a continuation of the structure that PIMCO established earlier in 2014 and they reflect our long-held belief that the best approach for PIMCO’s clients and our firm is to evolve our investment leadership structure to a team of seasoned, highly skilled investors overseeing all areas of PIMCO’s investment activities.”
Said Mr. Ivascyn: “We have assembled a team of world-class investors over the course of many years, and established a time-tested top-down, bottom-up investment process that will guide our investment philosophy and continue to serve our clients well into the future. Our CIO’s and I are fully committed to consistently deliver to our clients the investment excellence that they have rightly come to expect of us.”
Under this leadership structure, Mr. Balls and Mr. Worah have additional managerial responsibility for PIMCO’s Portfolio Management group and trade floor activities globally. Mr. Balls will oversee Portfolio Management in Europe and Asia-Pacific, and Mr. Worah will oversee Portfolio Management in the U.S.
Said Michael Diekmann, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Group: “Since becoming part of the Allianz Group in 2000, PIMCO has grown enormously and contributed consistently to Allianz’s success. We join our PIMCO colleagues in recognizing Bill Gross for his accomplishments over the 43 years since PIMCO’s founding. We wish Bill good luck. The management and investment structure put in place in January as well as the thorough succession planning gives us complete confidence in PIMCO’s investment and executive leadership team.”
Said the Independent Trustees for PIMCO’s fixed income and equity mutual funds and the Chairman of PIMCO’s closed-end funds: ”We are “fully supportive of PIMCO, its executive leadership and its portfolio management teams. They have our complete confidence.”
Mr. Ivascyn added: “We have a deep bench of talent with extensive investment and leadership experience, including more than 240 portfolio managers globally, and our outstanding team around the world gives us the scale, talent, expertise and commitment to manage this transition. We will continue to add and promote talent at all levels to help us drive our firm forward.”