Pimco hires a new head of equities

Bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co. said Wednesday it has hired Virginie Maisonneuve as the new global head of equities, replacing Neel Kashkari, who left the company at the beginning of the year to pursue a political career. Ms. Maisonneuve was formerly head of global and international equities at London-based global asset management company Schroders PLC. Ms. Masionneuve will take over the project began by Mr. Kashkari in 2010 to diversify Pimco's business by building a suite of actively managed equity funds. The four active equity funds launched under him have about $3.87 billion in combined assets. The hiring of a new global head of equities is occurring as Pimco deals with unprecedented outflows from the bond funds that made it a household name. The $250 billion Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTAX), the world's largest mutual fund, has had $30 billion of net outflows since interest rates spiked in June. The Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index has lost about 3% since June, even though rates have dropped to about 2.5% after topping 3% early last month. The Pimco Total Return Fund hasn't been alone in seeing investors run from the possibility of rising rates. Bond mutual funds have had $140 billion of net outflows since the end of June, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. Equity funds have been enjoying a renaissance as investors rotate out of bonds and their inherent rate risk. More than $275 billion has gone into stock funds year-to-date, the most in any single year since 2000, according to TrimTabs.