Investment Chief Smith to Leave Pimco Affiliate

Irwin Smith, the veteran investment chief of equity manager Columbus Circle Investors Inc., said he’s leaving the Pimco Advisors Holdings LP affiliate at the end of the month.

Smith, 59, said his five-year contract is expiring and he decided to pursue other interests instead of staying at Stamford, Conn.-based Columbus Circle, the third-biggest of Pimco’s money management units. Smith said the firm, which manages about $8 billion in assets for institutions and individuals, hasn’t named a successor and may not need to do so because the assets are managed by different investment teams.

“I’m going to chill out for a while,” Smith said. He said he will continue to teach a course on investments at the University of Wisconsin, where he went to school.

Columbus Circle was managing about $11.2 billion in stocks a year ago. Poor performance in recent years cost the firm clients and assets, though Smith said Columbus Circle has stopped being an “underachiever.”

Newport Beach-based Pimco is one of the largest U.S. money managers. At the end of September, it was managing $226 billion in bonds and stocks for institutions and individuals.