Pimco's [profile] third foray into equities may not be the charm just yet, but their parent is just happy they're not trying to simply buy their way into the business.

"It's obviously more difficult than we expected it to be, but I'm very happy that they do this in a professional way, and not getting into sort acquisition mode," Michael Diekmann, CEO of Munich, Germany-based insurer Allianz (which owns 70 percent of the bond fund giant), told Bloomberg's Alexis Leondis and Oliver Suess."I don't declare victory yet, but neither do I say it's been a failure."

The interview comes after former TARP guru Neel Kashkari, Pimco's equities chief, left earlier this year to possibly run for political office. Kashkari joined in 2009 to build out the unit. Pimco now has about $3.8 billion in stock funds, out of its $1.97 trillion in total assets.

Bloomberg notes that, before the sale to Allianz in 2000, Pimco twice tried to push into equities: once in 1980s, and again in the late 1990s.

In the interview Diekmann also addressed several other issues, including the possibility of Bill Gross departing Pimco; according to Bloomberg, Diekmann indicated that Gross "has no intention to retire." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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