dollarDEX now allows you to access some of the best bond funds from one of the most respected names in fixed income management. The funds we are adding to our range are

• PIMCO Emerging Markets Bond Fund
• PIMCO High Yield Bond Fund
• PIMCO Total Return Bond Fund
• PIMCO Global Bond Fund
• PIMCO US Dollar Short-Term Fund

The first three are all rated "recommended" by dollarDEX, and also have been rated 5-star by Mercer.

Pacific Investment Management Company LLC ("PIMCO") is a leading institutional money manager with over $373.7 billion in assets under management (as of December 31, 2003). PIMCO was established in 1971 to offer separate account management services primarily for employee benefit plans, endowments and foundations.

PIMCO is one of the most respected names in fixed income management, due in large part to its total return approach and impressive long-term performance record. The firm counts among its prestigious clients 67 of the largest 200 U.S. Pension funds (as measured by Pensions & Investments magazine 1/25/99).

PIMCO's investment philosophy encompasses multiple sources for adding value, includes:

• Long-Term Emphasis: Their focus on long-term (three-to-five year) trends recognizes that secular considerations such as demographics, political factors, and structural changes in the domestic and international economy exert powerful, sustained influences on interest rates. Thus, their longer term secular outlook, updated annually, determines a general maturity/duration range for the portfolio in relation to the market. Short-term, cyclical economic considerations determine shifts within this range.
• Volatility Analysis: While secondary to a forecast of interest rate direction, an interest rate volatility forecast is crucial to the management of a bond portfolio. Volatility impacts relative performance of bond market sectors. Increases in volatility benefit non-callable bonds such as Treasuries, whereas declining volatility will favor callable instruments such as corporates and mortgages. Volatility also impacts proper portfolio structure. Given a duration target, a portfolio consisting of a mixture of long and short bonds will perform differently than a pure intermediate portfolio, depending on volatility. Further, volatility influences choice of coupon, quality, the use of futures and options, and the pricing analysis of the more complex securities emerging daily in the fixed income markets.
• Sector: Their universe includes all sectors of the bond market: governments, corporates, mortgages, asset backs, money market and hedged international. They make significant sector shifts depending upon changes in relative valuations and spreads. Sophisticated proprietary software assists in the evaluation of sector opportunities and in the pricing of specific securities.
• Quality: Their typical portfolios have averaged Aa over the past several years, although average quality may vary from A to Aaa depending upon our outlook for rates and quality spreads. All holdings are subject to thorough internal credit analysis, enabling us to distinguish more accurately between levels of quality published by the outside rating services.

The funds sold here are offshore versions but for retail investors. This means they are registered with Monetary Authority of Singapore, but without the extra costs of a feeder fund. Hence pricing is in USD, although investors can use SGD to make payment. This does not necessarily imply a greater foreign exchange (forex) exposure than a SGD-denominated fund, as the fund denomination is largely irrelevant to forex risk (although some funds might hedge back to SGD or USD, check the prospectus to be sure about its forex approach).

However, investors should bear in mind that their investment will be maintained and priced in USD. Funds denoted (S$ pay) mean you can pay in S$, which will be converted to and from the underlying non-S$ fund currency at prevailing forex rates. Costs of conversion are included in the forex rate.

PIMCO funds are marketed by Allianz Dresdner Asset Management.

Source: PIMCO, dollarDEX