MutualFundWire.com: Can Roman Make Pimco More Quanty?

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Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Can Roman Make Pimco More Quanty?

Manny Roman has big hiring plans at Pimco [profile], and he's also pushing the firm more into the quantitative investing space.

Emmanuel Roman
Pimco
CEO

Watch for Roman, who took over the Newport Beach, California-based Allianz subsidiary six months ago as CEO, to expand Pimco's headcount by 100 over the next year, John Gittelsohn and John Micklethwait of Bloomberg report. Pimco had more than 2,150 employees as of March 31, and about $1.5 trillion in AUM.

Roman's expansion plan contrasts with trimming that Pimco has done in recent years. As recently as last June (prior to Roman joining in November) Pimco laid off about three-percent of staff.

Like other big asset manager's chiefs and industry watchers, Roman predicts more asset management industry consolidation. Yet he makes significant M&A sound unlikely for Pimco.

"We expect to grow organically," Roman tells Bloomberg.

Roman is also devoting resources to tech and attracting talent in that space. It sounds like he's looking for actual rocket scientists.

"As we become more of a technology company and more 'quanty,' we also face different competitors," Roman tells the publication. "The issue is not to compete for someone to come to us from Goldman Sachs. It's against SpaceX."

Oh, and on a personal note, Roman reveals how a high-profile tech company is important to his new life in Laguna Beach.

"I haven't taken up surfing, I haven't taken up driving," Roman tells Bloomberg. "My story of California is the miracle of technology. I can find four Ubers within four minutes at 5:30 in the morning to go to work."

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