Outflows Slow to $8.6 Billion at Pimco's Total Return Fund

By Kirsten Grind 

Investors pulled roughly $8.6 billion from Pacific Investment Management Co.'s flagship Total Return fund in February, the lowest amount of monthly withdrawals since the abrupt departure last fall of star manager Bill Gross.

The new outflows were lower than the $11.6 billion that exited in January, according to the company, as Pimco's flagship fund shows signs of stabilizing.

But February was the 22nd consecutive month of withdrawals for the world's largest bond mutual fund, which is now down 57% from its peak of $293 billion in April 2013. The Total Return Fund had $124.7 billion in assets at the end of February.

Pimco, based in Newport Beach, Calif., has been scrambling to keep investors following months of internal strife and the acrimonious departure of Mr. Gross at the end of September. Pimco, a unit of German insurer Allianz SE, also lost its chief executive Mohamed El-Erian last year after clashes with Mr. Gross.

Outflows from the Total Return fund are expected to vary from month to month, but in early December one of three new Total Return managers said the firm had moved past the "knee-jerk reaction in terms of flows that you would expect to happen."

The slowdown in withdrawals during February came as Total Return posted strong performance as compared with rivals. The fund earned a return of 1.9%, after fees, for the year to date through the end of February and 3.25% for the five months ending Feb. 28, beating the Morningstar Intermediate Term Bond Average and the company's internal benchmarks.

Write to Kirsten Grind at [e-mail]

Access Investor Kit for Allianz SE

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=DE0008404005

Access Investor Kit for Allianz SE

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0188051017

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires