Pimco's new bond chief is nailing it

After star money manager Bill Gross left in 2014, Pacific Investment Management Co ( Pimco) seemed destined to fade from prominence and become just one of the many firms that dot the US bond-industry landscape. But then Dan Ivascyn, the man tapped to replace Gross, got hot.

Almost no comparable fund in the country has matched the return of his Pimco Income Fund over the past three and five years.“It's performed exceptionally well, even shockingly well, over all periods,“ said Michael Rosen, the chief investment officer for Angeles Investment Advisors and a Pimco Income Fund client.

The fund returned 10.6% in the past 12 months alone and investor money is now pouring in at a pace unseen by any other actively-managed stock or bond fund, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Morningstar Inc.

Having swelled at the end of February to $75.4 billion, the fund reached a symbolic milestone: It overtook the old Grossrun fund that was once the world's largest, the Pimco Total Return Fund.