Investors pulled $150.2 billion from PIMCO's U.S. mutual funds in 2014, a year during which the firm lost both of its co-chief investment officers, William H. Gross and Mohamed El-Erian.
The redemptions include $102.9 billion from its biggest fund, the $143.4 billion PIMCO Total Return Fund, through Dec. 31, according to data from Morningstar. The PIMCO Unconstrained Bond Fund had the second-largest withdrawals, suffering $15.9 billion in redemptions last year to bring assets to $11.5 billion.
Pacific Investment Management Co. suffered the worst year of withdrawals in the history of fund management amid a leadership shakeup and as performance at some strategies stumbled. PIMCO, which managed $1.87 trillion as of Sept. 30, is seeking to reassure investors and stem redemptions, bringing back high-profile money managers and naming top performers to run its largest funds.
The Total Return Fund, which was once the biggest U.S. mutual fund, is now the fourth largest as offerings from Vanguard Group have overtaken it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The decline has erased more than five years of growth at the fund, bringing assets to 2008 levels.
The world's largest bond fund trailed a majority of peers for the second straight year in 2014 after missing a rally in longer-term bonds and betting that inflation would rise. The fund returned 4.7% in 2014, trailing 53% of comparable funds.
Now managed by Chief Investment Officers Scott Mather, Mark Kiesel and Mihir Worah since Mr. Gross's Sept. 26 departure, the fund returned 1.6% in the last three months, outperforming 78% of rivals, the data show.
The PIMCO unconstrained fund returned 2.4% last year, outperforming 74% of peers, according to Morningstar data. Chris Dialynas oversaw the fund from June 2008 until December 2013, when Mr. Gross took it over. It's now managed by group Chief Investment Officer Daniel Ivascyn, Saumil Parikh and Mohsen Fahmi.
