Just days before his resignation, the Financial Times detailed the latest PIMCO drama - a US regulatory investigation into pricing irregularities in one of the firm's exchange-traded funds (ETF).
"Bill Gross is a man on the back foot," the FT article begins. "The founder, managing director and chief investment officer of Pimco, the world's largest bond manager, is having a bad run."
That bad run has seen PIMCO funds shed about US$35 billion globally this year, according to Reuters.
The Reuters story cites a report from research house Morningstar US predicting that it is "likely that tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions in AUM (assets under management), will follow Gross to Janus from [PIMCO]".
Gross may not be a household name in NZ but his influence extends here too. According to an industry source, PIMCO manages at least $1 billion of New Zealand money on behalf of many institutional and retail clients including Fisher Funds, ANZ and Russell Investments.
With just over $140 million under management the Fisher bond fund is probably the biggest direct retail exposure to PIMCO.
Gross' departure probably won't have an immediate impact here - it is understood the great man himself wasn't personally much involved in running NZ-sourced bond portfolios.
Indeed, in a client note, Andrew Lance, head of Fisher Funds Institutional, signaled the firm would take "no immediate action" following the resignation.
However, Lance said Fisher was already reducing its global bond exposure following a "recent review of our strategic asset allocation".
In a letter sent to clients over the weekend, Tony Hildyard, PIMCO NZ country head, assured local investors that "all portfolios continue to be diligently managed and any future transition of responsibilities will be carefully managed and communicated".
Meanwhile, the 70-year old Gross starts his new job next week.
