Pimco Hires Fund Manager

Pimco Equity Advisors, the stock mutual fund unit of Pimco Advisors Holdings LP of Newport Beach, hired portfolio manager John Schneider from Schneider Capital Management to run a fund with about $645 million in assets.

Schneider, 34, will join New York-based Pimco Equity on May 10 to manage the Pimco Renaissance Fund. He is now working at Wayne, Pa.-based Schneider Capital, which was formed in 1996 by his brother, Arnold Schneider, a former partner at Wellington Management Co.

“It’s a terrific opportunity for John to be lead portfolio manager,” said Faith Robinson, Schneider Capital’s marketing chief. At Schneider Capital, he has worked as assistant fund manager. Before joining the firm, he was director of research at Newbold’s Asset Management, an affiliate of United Asset Management Corp.

Kenneth Corba, 45, was hired in January to be chief investment officer at Pimco Equity. His goal is to boost Pimco Equity’s assets fivefold to $25 billion over the next five years by adding investment people, acquiring fund companies and introducing new funds. With Schneider, Corba’s firm will have four portfolio managers and 10 investment people in total.

Pimco Equity was created in January when parent Pimco Advisors stripped the mutual fund business from its Columbus Circle Investors Inc. affiliate. Pimco Advisors is the third-biggest U.S. publicly traded fund company, with more than $244 billion in bond and stock assets at the end of December.