Pimco’s stake in Venture Global now worth $7B, WSJ says

Pimco, one of the world’s largest bond managers, owns 354 million Class A shares of Venture Global (VG), the natural-gas exporter that went public on Friday at $25 a share. And while the stock has since dropped to about $20, the California manager’s stake is still worth about $7B, which is more than 14 times what the shares cost the investment firm as it accumulated them over the past eight years, The Walls Street Journal’s Justin Baer reports. On paper, it is one of Pimco’s most profitable investments in any one security, people familiar with the firm said. Pimco’s unusual windfall is the latest sign of the rise of private markets. The pursuit of private equity, private debt and other high-octane investments is transforming the once-staid world of asset management — increasingly pitting traditional mutual-fund firms against the alternative-investing stalwarts that manage money for pensions and other institutions, the author says.