Allianz Global Investors took home some much-coveted hardware at the 2009 Lipper Fund Awards held in New York last month.

The awards, presented during a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, recognize mutual funds that have delivered consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to their peers over the last three-, five-, and 10-year periods ending Dec. 31, 2008.

In 2009, Allianz Global Investors won awards for five of its stock and bond funds, demonstrating the firm’s versatility and diversified breadth of products. “It’s always great to be recognized for our achievements,” said Brian Gaffney, chief executive officer at Allianz Global Investors Distributors. “These award-winning funds reflect our firm-wide commitment to excellence and demonstrate the value we add for mutual fund shareholders in both equity and fixed-income disciplines.”

Allianz Global Investors' Winning Funds

PIMCO Total Return Fund Institutional, run by veteran bond manager Bill Gross, won top honors for the best 10-year track record in the Intermediate Investment Grade Debt category. Another standout performer Gross manages, PIMCO StocksPLUS® TR Short Strategy Fund Institutional, won a Lipper award for its superior five-year track record among Dedicated Short Bias funds.

Allianz NFJ International Value Fund Institutional, – managed by Ben Fischer, Paul Magnuson, R. Burns McKinney and Thomas Oliver – won two awards for best International Multi-Cap Value Fund over three years and five years, respectively. NFJ employs a deep value equity investment style that focuses on dividends, discipline and diversification.

Allianz RCM Technology Fund Institutional, managed by Huachen Chen and Walter Price, Jr., also advanced to the winner’s circle, securing the award for best Global Science/Technology Fund over 10 years. RCM is a global asset manager specializing in core growth strategies that leverages its deep research capabilities to invest in what they believe are quality companies with strong business management, accounting, cash flow and product positions.

Nicholas Applegate Capital Management (NACM) portfolio manager Pedro Marcal’s Allianz NACM Pacific Rim Fund Institutional, scored the top prize in its category as well, winning the award for best Pacific Region Fund over a five-year period. NACM uses academic research in behavioral finance to exploit market inefficiencies and seeks to invest in companies benefiting from sustainable change and timeliness.

The Lipper Fund Awards are based on strong relative performance, which may not necessarily mean positive returns for investors.

Mutual funds must meet the following Lipper criteria to qualify for an award:

• Registered for sale in the respective country as of the end of the evaluation year.
• Have at least 36 months of performance history as of the end of the evaluation year.
• Lipper Global classifications with at least 10 distinct portfolios based on the primary share class definition, excluding residual classifications, institutional, private, closed-end, exchange-traded and insurance funds as well as absolute return funds.
• Asset classes: equity, bond, and mixed-asset.

Fund classification awards methodology

The currency for the calculation corresponds to the currency of the country for which the awards are calculated and relies on monthly data.Classification averages are calculated with all eligible share classes for each eligible classification. The calculation periods extend over 36, 60, and 120 months. The highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return (Effective Return) value within each eligible classification determines the fund classification winner over three, five, or 10 years. Consistent Return reflects the funds’ historical risk-adjusted returns, adjusted for volatility, relative to peers. For a detailed explanation please review the Lipper Leaders methodology document on www.lipperweb.com.