PIMCO Hires Geoffrey Johnson as Its Next Lead Global Equity Portfolio Manager

NEWPORT BEACH, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 22, 2012) - PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has hired Geoffrey Johnson as an Executive Vice President and Global Equity Portfolio Manager. He will begin with the firm in April 2012 and will be based in the Newport Beach office.

"Geoffrey is an extremely talented equity investor with an established track record of success in the global long/short equity space," said Neel Kashkari, Managing Director and Head of Global Equities for PIMCO. "His addition to our team is another important step in PIMCO's build-out of our global active equity investing platform," added Mr. Kashkari.

Prior to joining PIMCO, Mr. Johnson has been managing partner of Catamount Capital Management, a boutique investment management firm where he also served as portfolio manager. Catamount manages several investment strategies, including a long/short equity hedge fund which was established in 2003. Earlier in his career, Mr. Johnson was founder and president of Direct Response, Inc. He earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and an MA and BA in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder.

At PIMCO, Mr. Johnson will establish and lead a global long/short active equity strategy. This will be PIMCO's fourth active equity solution since it established its equity investment platform in April 2010 following the successful launch of its global deep value strategy, Pathfinder, in April 2010, global emerging markets strategy in April 2011, and global dividend strategy in January 2012.

About PIMCO
PIMCO is a global investment management firm that was founded in Southern California in 1971. The firm serves an array of clients and manages retirement and other assets that reach more than 8 million people in the U.S. and millions more around the world. Our clients include state, municipal, union and private sector pension and retirement plans, educational, foundations, endowments, philanthropic and healthcare institutions, individual and investment saving accounts, public sector reserve management and other public entities in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

PIMCO has more than 1,800 employees. In addition to its headquarters in Newport Beach, California, the firm has offices in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York City, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Zurich.

PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a global diversified financial services provider.

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the performance of financial markets, the investment performance of PIMCO's sponsored investment products and separately managed accounts, general economic conditions, future acquisitions, competitive conditions and government regulations, including changes in tax laws. Readers should carefully consider such factors. Further, such forward-looking statements speak only on the date at which such statements are made. PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statement.