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Alternative Investments

Alternative paths to performance using PIMCO’s time-tested process.

At PIMCO, our decades of global leadership in active fixed income investing have prepared us for the complexities of alternative strategies, grounded in a solid foundation of macroeconomic analysis, fundamental research, and relative value comparisons.

Over the last 15 years, this broad perspective has provided our investors with access to new potential opportunities through innovative strategies spanning global macro, commodities, risk premia, structured and corporate credit, and the full spectrum of residential and commercial real estate markets.

Why PIMCO for Alternatives?

PIMCO's dedicated alternatives team benefits from the investment process and platform that has delivered alpha for investors for more than 50 years through many different market environments.

360-Degree Perspective

Our rigorous and fully-integrated investment process operates on a global scale with the aim of identifying compelling value across public and private markets, providing us with a differentiated perspective when evaluating individual opportunities.

Market Insight

Industry leadership, long-term relationships, and our dedicated asset specialists allow us to delve deeply into markets across the globe, at significant scale or in highly-targeted niche investment areas.

$172 billion

Alternative Assets Under Management (AUM)

$145 billion1

Alternative Credit & Private Strategies

$27 billion

Absolute Return Alpha Strategies

Alts Pie Chart 
As of 30 September 2023. 1Includes NAV and uncalled capital for draw down funds, and $91.8B in estimated net assets managed by PIMCO Prime Real Estate (formerly Allianz Real Estate). "PIMCO Prime Real Estate" is a PIMCO company and includes PIMCO Prime Real Estate GmbH, PIMCO Prime Real Estate LLC, and their subsidiaries and affiliates. PIMCO Prime Real Estate LLC investment professionals provide investment management and other services as dual personnel through Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. PIMCO Prime Real Estate GmbH operates separately from PIMCO.
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Viewpoints

Specialty Finance: Seize Today’s Compelling Entry Point

Learn about the factors that are creating unique entry points in specialty finance, and why PIMCO experts believe there are attractive risk-adjusted returns and greater scale than ever before.

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Investment Strategies

Alternative Credit & Private Strategies

Since launching its first opportunistic credit vehicles over 15 years ago, PIMCO has developed a significant presence in both alternative credit and private investment strategies. Our strategies include those that seek to identify value primarily in listed securities, relying on fundamental and capital structure analysis, and also strategies that seek to privately finance the debt and equity needs of companies, asset holders, and origination platforms. We invest globally across commercial and residential real estate and mortgage credit, performing and distressed corporate debt, and specialty finance markets.

  • $145 billion2 in alternative credit & private strategies AUM
  • 80+ portfolio analytics resources
  • 80+ credit research analysts
  • $230B+ deployed into private markets
  • 130+ dedicated alternative credit portfolio managers
As of 30 September 2023. Certain PIMCO personnel who will provide investment advice to the strategies are separated by information barriers. As a result, certain communications may be subject to restrictions. 2Includes NAV and uncalled capital for draw down funds, and $91.8B in estimated net assets managed by PIMCO Prime Real Estate (formerly Allianz Real Estate). "PIMCO Prime Real Estate" is a PIMCO company and includes PIMCO Prime Real Estate GmbH, PIMCO Prime Real Estate LLC, and their subsidiaries and affiliates. PIMCO Prime Real Estate LLC investment professionals provide investment management and other services as dual personnel through Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. PIMCO Prime Real Estate GmbH operates separately from PIMCO.

Investment Capabilities

  • Residential Real Estate

    Our residential real estate team is one of the largest providers of capital to global mortgage markets. Our areas of focus include credit-sensitive RMBS and whole loans, re-performing and non-performing loans, and direct origination through our network of institutional partners.

  • Commercial Real Estate

    PIMCO is a leading investor in private commercial real estate equity, with an established presence in the U.S. and Europe, and growing footprint in other markets. Our team invests opportunistically across geographies, sectors, and development stages, following a relative value-based approach that draws on the macroeconomic and fundamental insights of the broader PIMCO platform.

    Complementing our real estate private equity efforts, our real estate debt team finances the capital needs of developers, sponsors, and other asset owners with a full suite of solutions ranging from our significant activity in CMBS to bespoke transitional lending on individual projects.

  • Corporate Credit

    Our corporate credit capabilities span leveraged loans, high yield bonds, bank capital, CLOs/CBOs, direct lending, capital solutions and distressed investing in both developed and developing markets. Our team invests seamlessly across public and private markets, with robust capabilities to provide bespoke financing solutions to a wide variety of corporate borrowers.

  • Specialty Finance

    Our specialty finance team focuses on consumer and commercial specialty finance. Our consumer finance practice crosses various forms of consumer lending such as credit card receivables, unsecured personal loans, student loans and automobile leases/loans. In commercial finance, we operate across trade finance, transportation finance, equipment finance, insurance finance and other esoteric lending opportunities. The team is active in new origination, legacy loan pools, as well as equity investments in origination and asset management platforms.

Absolute Return Alpha Strategies

PIMCO’s Absolute Return Alpha Strategies platform is designed to harness PIMCO’s deep experience investing across global markets, asset classes, and strategy types, including those leveraging the firm’s extensive quantitative capabilities. Evolving since the launch of our first global macro alternative strategy in 2004, we invest globally in cash and derivative markets through both discretionary and systematic strategies.

  • $27 billion in absolute return alpha strategies AUM
  • 40+ dedicated portfolio managers
  • 15+ years of discretionary hedge fund experience
  • $67 billion invested in quant strategies (index oriented and absolute return)
  • 20+ years of dedicated quantitative strategy experience
As of 30 September 2023. Certain PIMCO personnel who will provide investment advice to the strategies are separated by information barriers. As a result, certain communications may be subject to restrictions.

Investment Capabilities

  • Macroeconomic

    Macroeconomic analysis has been a key input to PIMCO’s investment process over our 45+ year history. This is supported through long-established cyclical and secular economic forums, global and regional investment committees, as well as further insights from our Global Advisory Board of market and policy specialists. Our dedicated team of portfolio managers has a longstanding track record investing in macro/directional, relative value and tactical/systematic trades across asset classes in developed and emerging markets.

  • Credit Relative Value

    Our credit portfolio managers span the full spectrum of credit opportunities from investment grade corporate credit to subordinated structured credit to distressed emerging market credit. The team leverages PIMCO’s highly integrated credit platform and focuses on identifying distinct directional and relative value opportunities across the risk and liquidity spectrum with the aim of building strategies that are flexible and opportunistic.

  • Commodities

    Our dedicated team of commodity portfolio managers, leveraging a broad set of resources including commodity analytics, risk management and credit research, manage one of the world’s largest absolute return commodity strategies. Our analysts focus on fundamental and structural drivers of return across a broad opportunity set in commodity markets.

  • Quantitative Investing

    Our dedicated quant portfolio management team and 50+ person analytics group leverages broad quant strategy research and benefits from PIMCO’s extensive history employing risk premia strategies since the 1980s. Areas of focus cover interest rates, equities, and currencies across both developed and developing markets as well as commodities and the derivatives related to each of these markets.

Related Thought Leadership

Section : Date : Experts :
Reset All
PIMCO’s Capital Market Assumptions
Unlocking the Power of Private Credit
Aviation Finance: Capturing Opportunities in Private Credit
Opportunity in Focus: Private Credit
Decoding Quant Strategies
Capitalizing on Change in the Real Estate Market (Video)
Adapting to the Evolving Credit Landscape (Video)
Unlocking the Power of Alternative Investments

Need more information?

Connect with our team today.

Disclosures

The following disclosures may not include all risks related to the strategies described herein. Additionally, this information is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, accounting, legal, tax or other advice. PIMCO does not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult your tax and/or legal counsel for specific tax or legal questions and concerns.

All investments contain risk and may lose value. Investments in residential/commercial mortgage loans and commercial real estate debt are subject to risks that include prepayment, delinquency, foreclosure, risks of loss, servicing risks and adverse regulatory developments, which risks may be heightened in the case of non-performing loans. The value of real estate and portfolios that invest in real estate may fluctuate due to: losses from casualty or condemnation, changes in local and general economic conditions, supply and demand, interest rates, property tax rates, regulatory limitations on rents, zoning laws, and operating expenses. Investments in mortgage and asset-backed securities are highly complex instruments that may be sensitive to changes in interest rates and subject to early repayment risk. Structured products such as collateralized debt obligations are also highly complex instruments, typically involving a high degree of risk; use of these instruments may involve derivative instruments that could lose more than the principal amount invested. Private credit involves an investment in non-publically traded securities which may be subject to illiquidity risk. Portfolios that invest in private credit may be leveraged and may engage in speculative investment practices that increase the risk of investment loss. Equity investments may decline in value due to both real and perceived general market, economic and industry conditions, while debt investments are subject to credit, interest rate and other risks. Investing in banks and related entities is a highly complex field subject to extensive regulation, and investments in such entities or other operating companies may give rise to control person liability and other risks. In addition, there can be no assurance that PIMCO's strategies with respect to any investment will be capable of implementation or, if implemented, will be successful. Investing in distressed companies (both debt and equity) is speculative and may be subject to greater levels of credit, issuer and liquidity risks, and the repayment of default obligations contains significant uncertainties; such companies may be engaged in restructurings or bankruptcy proceedings.

Statements concerning financial market trends or portfolio strategies are based on current market conditions, which will fluctuate. There is no guarantee that these investment strategies will work under all market conditions or are appropriate for all investors and each investor should evaluate their ability to invest for the long term, especially during periods of downturn in the market. Outlook and strategies are subject to change without notice.

PIMCO does not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult your tax and/or legal counsel for specific tax or legal questions and concerns.

PIMCO as a general matter provides services to qualified institutions, financial intermediaries and institutional investors. Individual investors should contact their own financial professional to determine the most appropriate investment options for their financial situation. This material contains the opinions of the manager but not necessarily those of PIMCO, and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. PIMCO is a trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America L.L.C. in the United States and throughout the world. ©2023, PIMCO.

CMR2023-0321-2804253-T