Pimco Stock Rises Amid Acquisition Negotiations

Pimco Advisors Holdings LP shares rose 6.7% Wednesday, a day after the Newport Beach money manager confirmed it is in negotiations to be acquired by German insurance giant Allianz AG.

Pimco’s stock moved up $2.19 to $34.94 a share on trading of 731,400 shares, more than five times the average daily volume over the last three months on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock gained $2.25 a share Tuesday before trading was halted.

The acquisition, for about $4.4 billion in cash, would create one of the world’s 10 biggest money managers.

Investors betting on other potential takeover targets drove up shares of Franklin Resources Inc., the biggest publicly traded U.S. fund manager by market value, and T. Rowe PriceAssociates Inc., the No. 7 publicly traded U.S. money manager by managed assets. Both companies have consistently said they aren’t for sale.

Franklin’s stock climbed $1.19 to $31.31 a share. T. Rowe’s shares rose $1.25 to $30.

“It’s a seller’s market,” said Prudential Securities insurance analyst John Hall. “Transactions won’t go away” because insurers want to expand in the money management business.