Pimco Hires Ex-BofA Merrill Lynch's Hong to Oversee Asia-Pacific Business

Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s largest mutual fund, named Ki Myung Hong as head of the company’s Asia-Pacific operations.

Hong, who will be based in Hong Kong, will oversee the company’s business in the city, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, Pimco said in a statement released through Marketwire. He will report to Douglas Hodge, the chief operating officer of the Newport Beach, California-based firm.

Hong was most recently regional vice chairman and president of Asia-Pacific at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, based in Hong Kong. Previously, he was Asia co-head of credit and rates with a focus on clients for JPMorgan & Co. also in the city. He held senior positions with Bankers Trust over the course of a 13-year career there.

Pimco’s $234 billion Total Return Fund, run by Bill Gross, handed investors a 12 percent gain in the past year, beating about three-fifths of its competitors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pimco has about $1.1 trillion in assets and is a unit of Munich-based insurer Allianz SE.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net