Pimco replaced by BlackRock at $6 billion Prudential Fund

NEW YORK: Pacific Investment Management Co, seeking to stem redemptions after its co-founder Bill Gross left unexpectedly, was dropped as manager of a $6.16-billion strategy offered by a unit of Prudential Financial Inc. Pimco will be replaced as subadviser of the AST Pimco Total Return Bond Portfolio by BlackRock and Loomis Sayles & Co, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pimco will also be dropped as manager of the US fixedincome portion of the AST Advanced Strategies Portfolio, which had $8.75 billion in assets as of Sept. 30. Prudential, the second-largest US life insurer, didn’t say whether the decision was related to Gross’s move to Janus Capital Group on Sept 26.

Former Pimco parent Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ford Motor Co., Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Alabama’s Treasury and Florida’s state pension have all moved money away from Pimco in recent weeks.