Pimco [profile] is not stopping with bonds, or even plain vanilla equities, or ETFs. It has now moved on to alternatives strategies wrapped in a mutual fund. Will an ETF version be next?

The Newport Beach fund advisor is rolling out its first long/short fund, and doing it in an unusual way. Neel Kashkari's equity team and their lawyers have convinced the approvers at the SEC to let them convert the Catamount Hedge Fund, which it acquired in April, into a '40 Act fund, reports InvestmentNews.

Catamount Capital manager Geoffrey Johnson will manage the new Pimco Eqs Long/Short Fund.

Kashkari, Pimco's global equities head, told InvestmentNews that convincing the SEC to allow the conversion was a complicated process.

"We went through a lot of back and forth with the SEC to show that the hedge fund, by chance, already met all the requirements for a '40 Act fund," he said.

Bill Gross's firm has been investing in equities for more than two years, and the new long/short fund is Pimco's fourth equity fund.

Bloomberg has more on new PM Geoffrey Johnson, who has had a 6.7 percent five-year annualized return at Catamount Capital, according to Morningstar.

Johnson told Bloomberg that the new long/short fund aims to offer investors strong growth while limiting risk.

"It brings a nice balance of capital appreciation and capital preservation," he said. "We can smooth out some of the volatility that has been the hallmark of the market for the past decade." 

Edited by: HFD


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