Pimco No Longer Bond King

(RTTNews) - Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC or Pimco's flagship Total Return Fund has ended its 17-year reign as the world's largest bond mutual fund, losing the title to rival Vanguard Group's Total Bond Market Index Fund.

Pimco's Total Return Fund had $110.4 billion of assets at the end of April 2015, compared to Vanguard's Total Bond Market Index fund that had $117.3 billion in assets.

Pimco said in a statement that monthly net flows for the Total Return Fund continued to decline in April and investors pulled a net $5.6 billion from the fund in the month.

April was the 24th consecutive month of withdrawals from the fund, which is down 62 percent from its peak amount of $293 billion in April 2013.

Last fall, bond guru Bill Gross left his post as chief investment officer at Pimco to join rival investment firm Janus Capital Group, Inc. (JNS). This led to concerns among investors, resulting in hefty cash outflows from Pimco.

For the year-to-date period through April, the Total Return Fund delivered a net after fee return of 1.62 percent, outperforming its benchmark by 38 basis points and generating excess returns of 30 basis points above the Morningstar Intermediate Term Bond Average, Pimco said.

Newport Beach, California-based Pimco, an autonomous subsidiary of German insurer Allianz SE, has about $1.6 trillion in assets under management.

Pimco said in late April that former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will serve as a senior advisor to the global investment management firm.

The hiring of Bernanke is by far the most prominent high-level appointment made by the company following the abrupt departure of Bill Gross in September last year.