Fundsters who can't get enough of Pimco Total Return or of bank loans may want to keep an eye on the Newport Beach, California-based fixed income giant. Bill Gross and his team are already launching the Pimco Senior Floating Rate Fund [see profile], and separately today Pimco filed to create an active ETF version of Total Return [see filing].

A spokesman for Pimco declined to comment on the proposed Total Return ETF, citing the SEC-mandated quiet period.

Morningstar's Robert Goldsborough also covered the Total Return ETF proposal. Goldsborough praised the proposal as "a winner for investors" and noted that Morningstar has been calling on Pimco for years to launch an ETF version of Total Return.

The proposal does not yet include pricing for the new ETF (which would be a separate fund from, and not simply a new share class of, the original Total Return). Yet Gross, Pimco's star co-founder and co-chief investment officer who PMs the mammoth Total Return, is listed as PM for the ETF, too.

As for the bank loan fund, fundsters may not be surprised by the launch. Bloomberg reported back in February that Pimco had such a fund in the works [see The MFWire, 2/28/2011]. The new fund offers A shares (for a 375-basis-point front-end load, a 100-bps deferred load, a 100-bps short-term redemption fee and 110 bps in annual expenses), C shares (a 100-bps deferred load, a 100-bps short-term redemption fee and 185 bps in annual expenses), D shares (110 bps in annual expenses), P shares (90 bps in annual expenses), R shares (a 100-bps short-term redemption fee and 135 bps in annual expenses), administrative shares (105 bps in annual expenses) and institutional shares (80 bps in annual expenses). Pimco executive vice president Elizabeth MacLean PMs the fund.

For both funds, Pimco handles distribution. Boston Financial Data Services serves as transfer agent, State Street provides custody, PricewaterhouseCoopers is the independent accounting firm and Dechert offers legal counsel. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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