Investors yank $7 billion more from Pimco’s flagship fund

Investors pulled $7.3 billion more from Pimco’s flagship Total Return Fund last month as the Newport Beach giant continued to grapple with the fallout from the abrupt departure of former star manager William T. Gross last September.

The March outflows from Total Return represent a modest slowing from the $8.9 billion that investors withdrew in February, according to monthly results released Thursday by Pacific Investment Management Co.

But last month’s withdrawals remain well above the average of $3.1 billion a month that investors took out last year before Gross left.

Total Return, which now manages $117.4 billion, has lost nearly 60% of its funds under management since its peak of $292.9 billion in April 2013.

The outflows at Total Return persist at a time when funds are flowing into bond mutual funds, albeit at a modest rate, and competitors are gaining investors.

DoubleLine Capital in Los Angeles, for instance, said its Total Return Bond Fund gained $851 million in March, bringing its total to $45.8 billion under management.

Pimco’s Total Return Fund continues to post strong investment results, however. The firm said that in the six months ended March 31, roughly since Gross left, the fund returned 3.56%, almost a percentage point above the Morningstar Intermediate Term Bond Average, a benchmark.

Twitter: @deanstarkman