By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pacific Investment Management Co posted outflows of $48.3 billion (30.26 billion pounds) across its open-ended funds in October following the surprise departure of Bill Gross, adding to the $25.5 billion of withdrawals the previous month, according to Morningstar data on Wednesday.
Gross, who co-founded Pimco in 1971 and built it into one of the largest investment firms in the world, managing $2 trillion of pension, endowment, and retirement money, resigned on Sept. 26 to join rival Janus Capital Group Inc (N:JNS).
A majority of Pimco's firm-wide outflows in October stemmed from investors pulling money from its flagship Pimco Total Return Fund, which was managed by Gross.
According to Morningstar's calculations, Pimco Total Return Fund suffered an estimated $32.3 billion of outflows in October. That differs from Pimco's reported $27.5 billion outflow on Tuesday because of differences in how Pimco reported the $5.6 billion in redemption requests from Sept. 30, Morningstar said.
Since the fund follows a specific settlement procedure, "those redemptions will not affect fund net assets until Oct. 1 and therefore are included in our October estimated flow number," Morningstar's senior research analyst Michelle Swartzentruber said.
She added that Morningstar's estimate of Pimco Total Return's September and October flows matches "very closely" with the numbers Pimco has reported publicly.
Pimco, a unit of Allianz SE (DE:ALVG), which had assets under management of $1.876 trillion as of Sept. 30, has been aggressively reassuring clients through meetings, conference calls and advertisements that the firm remains committed to the same investment strategies following the exit of Gross.
Daniel Tarman, a Pimco spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday: "Flows from the Total Return Fund peaked on September 26th, and slowed sharply throughout October. October performance of plus 0.80 percent after fees was in line with the Total Return Fund's peer group."
"Pimco is a long-term investor, focussed on delivering consistent results for our clients. Given October's market volatility and the firm's recent CIO succession, Pimco's investment performance during the month is noteworthy and attributable to the strength and contribution of the firm's large portfolio management team," said Douglas Hodge, Pimco chief executive officer.
(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by James Dalgleish, Bernard Orr)