Pimco bought $727 mln of Greek debt in Q2

Bill Gross, the co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco), sold most of the $48 billion of US Treasuries held by his $221.6 billion Pimco Total Return Fund in the second quarter, replacing them with about $45 billion of futures, according to an August filing.

The contracts require small up-front payments, freeing up money for Gross to invest in higher-yielding securities including Greek, Brazilian, Spanish and Italian debt.

Pimco Total Return increased its stake in European sovereign debt by more than 50 percent in the second quarter, adding $4.9 billion of Spanish bonds, $6.1 billion from Italy and $121 million from Greece.

Gross invested $23.7 billion in an internal cash-management fund and added $8.5 billion in short-term instruments, including $606 million of treasury bills issued by Greece, $6.5 billion of T-bills from Mexico and almost $3 billion of certificates of deposit.

[Bloomberg]

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