By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pacific Investment Management Co's (Pimco) assets under management stood at $1.5 trillion at the end of March, up from $1.43 trillion at the end of 2015, the first increase in nearly two years, the bond fund manager said on Wednesday.
"Pimco saw inflows into more than 40 funds during March, across strategies as varied as income, investment grade credit, high yield, mortgages and munis," spokesman Michael Reid said in a statement.
The Pimco Income Fund, which is overseen by group Chief Investment Officer Dan Ivascyn, had an additional $1.5 billion in inflows in March, bringing total inflows to $18.2 billion since the beginning of 2015, Reid said.
The increase in assets is significant after several years of challenges.
Pimco, headquartered in Newport Beach, California, faced massive cash withdrawals from the Pimco Total Return Fund because of mediocre returns, and underwent a very public management transition over the past two years.
In September 2014, Bill Gross, who built Pimco into a $2 trillion asset manager and became one of the world's best-known bond investors, left the firm he co-founded. A year later, Gross sued Pimco and its parent, Allianz (DE:ALVG) Overall, Reid said the total assets under management also included returns generated from the performance of Pimco's funds.