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PIMCO Leads Product Development
Even though product development was relatively light in 2009 and through the first quarter of 2010, 19 new globally focused fixed-income products were launched during that period with PIMCO leading the way with three, followed by John Hancock Funds and Touchstone Investments with two new funds each.
Using Morningstar category classifications, the majority of these new funds (seven) are world bond funds (funds that invest at least 40% of bonds in foreign markets), five are multisector bond funds (funds that seek income by diversifying their assets among several fixed-income sectors—usually U.S. government obligations, foreign bonds, and high-yield domestic debt securities), and three are emerging markets bond funds (funds that have at least 65% of assets in emerging markets bonds). The remaining new funds are categorized as short-term, high yield, inflation-protected, and currency.
Currently, Franklin Templeton manages the most international/ global bond fund assets with $39.1 billion, followed by PIMCO and Fidelity with $26.3 billion and $23.6 billion under management, respectively. Oppenheimer ($20.5 billion) and Natixis ($12.9 billion) round out the top-five firms. Oppenheimer and Natixis, while tops in terms of assets, had minimal net flows ($34.6 billion and $143 million, respectively) through May 31, 2010.
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Fred Schneyer