After a decade of name sharing, the Pimco bond funds will soon be alone again. Germany's Allianz AG is taking the Pimco name off the 27 equity funds run by Pacific Investment Management Co. which it purchased in 2000.

The names of the Pimco Funds Multi-Manager will change to Allianz Funds on April 1, reports the Wall Street Journal. In addition, PA Distributors will be renamed to Allianz Global Investors Distributors.

The change in branding comes after some U.S. equity management subsidiaries were ensnared in the market timing scandals that started two years ago. The units involved -- PA Fund Management LLC, PEA Capital LLC, and PA Distributors LLC -- agreed to pay $50 million to settle civil fraud charges brought by the SEC.

Allianze management said that the rebranding campain that was developed after it purchased Dresdner last year and is unrelated to the settlements and scandals. The new name is part of a strategy that to clarify the firm's different lines of business that has been planned for some time.

The bond funds managed out of southern California in Newport Beach were not involved in the market timing arrangements. The equity funds were run out of the East Coast. They will also keep their current branding.

The renaming also removes William Gross, the star portfolio manager from the cloud raised by the scandal and settlement. Gross, who is the most recognized bond manager in the world, took the rare step of publically defending the Pimco bond funds at the time the initial allegations were made by regulators. 

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