PIMCO, a global fixed-income investment manager, yesterday announced that it has received a license from local regulators to set up a securities and investment consultant firm in Taiwan.
The new company would act as the master agent for the global firm’s 13 global investor fund series, which are registered for general sale to local investors and to manage its local distribution partnerships, pending regulatory approval on the master agent transition, it said in a statement.
PIMCO is working closely with Allianz Global Investors Taiwan Ltd (安聯投信), its current master agent of the funds on the local market, on the transfer of responsibilities, it said.
During the transition, PIMCO would continue to manage the PIMCO funds and Allianz would remain the master agent until the effective appointment of PIMCO Taiwan as the new master agent later this year, it said.
In addition to Taipei, PIMCO has four other offices in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
“Building onshore presence in Taiwan aligns with PIMCO’s global distribution strategy and demonstrates the firm’s commitment to Asia, as the region poses vast business opportunity for the firm and its investors,” said Michael Thompson, PIMCO’s head of Asia and chairman of PIMCO Taiwan, adding that the new company would help deepen PIMCO’s ties with local distributors, expand its reach to clients and deliver global investment solutions for local investors.
PIMCO has appointed veteran fund manager Mitch Wang (王可華) as general manager of the new company.
He would report to Hong Kong-based Greater China area head Yin Haining (殷海寧), it said.
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