Newport Beach-based bond manager Bill Gross of Pacific Investment Management Co. has added government debt to his holdings, bringing it to its highest percentage in two years.
Gross’s $144 billion Total Return Fund, the largest bond fund in the world, had about 28% of its holdings in government bonds in March, according to Pimco’s Web site.
This is the second month in a row Gross added to his government holdings. In February government debt made up 15% of his fund.
It is unclear which government securities Pimco bought. The category can include Treasuries, interest rate swaps or other non-Treasury bonds.
Gross, who is cofounder and co-chief investment officer of the company, has argued Treasury bonds are overvalued.
Gross began adding government securities to his fund last December. But in January he lightened up on the category.
Also last month, Gross cut his holdings of mortgage backed bonds to 65% from 86% of the fund’s holdings in February.
For the six months through March the fund gained 6.53%, beating its benchmark index, Barclay’s U.S. Aggregate Index, which gained 4.7%.
Pimco manages about $750 billion in assets and is part of Munich-based insurer Allianz SE.
