Manny Roman (Photo: David Paul Morris/BB)
Pacific Management Investment Co. has chosen Austin, Texas, for a new office as the firm seeks to recruit tech talent and broaden marketing in the U.S.
The office will open later this year and is expected to expand to about 200 employees, mostly new hires, by 2019, according to a statement Tuesday.
"Austin will play an important part in Pimco's continued growth and we are excited to become part of this vibrant, innovative community," Emmanuel "Manny" Roman, Pimco's chief executive, said in the statement.
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Pimco sought the new location, its third in the U.S., mostly because of the high cost and competition for recruiting skilled technologists to its headquarters in Newport Beach, California, and its New York office, Roman said in an April 5 interview. Financial firms including Pimco and BlackRock Inc. are increasingly turning to advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, for portfolio management, economic forecasting, client relations and other operations.
Roman cited Charles Schwab Corp. as a model of a financial firm that established a facility outside California to recruit technologists. Since 2013, Schwab has been developing office space in Phoenix, Denver, Austin and Dallas.
"We scrubbed the whole of the U.S. in terms of tech talent, location, airport, taxes, what have you," Roman said during the interview in Newport Beach. "But the core of the firm is staying here."
