NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pimco, the firm that oversees the world's largest bond fund, posted $5.5 billion (3.28 billion pounds) in net outflows across its U.S. open-end mutual funds in May, extending the company's record outflow streak to 12 straight months, Morningstar data showed on Tuesday.
The outflows marked the second straight month in which investors pulled $5.5 billion from the Newport Beach, California-based firm's U.S. open-end mutual funds. The firm has faced $87.9 billion in outflows from the funds since last June, Morningstar data showed.
Much of the latest month's outflows came from the company's flagship Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund with $229 billion in assets. The fund is managed by Pimco co-founder and chief investment officer Bill Gross.
The fund posted outflows of $4.3 billion last month, marking its 13th straight month of investor withdrawals, Reuters reported Monday. The fund’s assets have fallen from a peak of $292.9 billion in April of last year.
Analysts have cited weak performance as a reason for the fund's outflows. The fund gained 1.25 percent in May, surpassing the returns of 79 percent of its peers and notching its best performance in four months, according to preliminary Morningstar data. For the year, however, the fund is up just 3.14 percent and is trailing 79 percent of its peers.
Pacific Investment Management Co, a unit of European financial services company Allianz SE (DE:ALVG), had $1.94 trillion in assets as of March 31, according to the firm's website.
(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Brown)