BIZ BITES

Pimco leader Gross named manager of the year

Bill Gross, the chief investment officer at the Newport Beach bond house Pimco, was named by the investment research center Morningstar as its fixed-income manager of the year.

Morningstar, a data provider for investment research in the U.S. and abroad, hailed Gross for his foresight in staving off the effects of last year’s housing market crisis. According to Morningstar’s online profile, Gross repositioned his company’s portfolios in 2006 to lessen its exposure to corporate bonds, and reaped the benefits when the economy took a downturn last year.

“That sort of bold move is precisely what we’re talking about when we say that we look for managers who show courage in their convictions,” the profile reads.

Costa Mesa manufacturer gets Army order

Ceradyne, a Costa Mesa-based manufacturer of advanced ceramic products for the military and other industries, has received a five-year body armor order from the United States Special Operations Command MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

The military has not named a definite price on the order for ballistic plates, but Ceradyne estimated that it had a minimum value of $6 million and a maximum value greater than $400 million. The initial delivery, worth $4.9 million, is scheduled to ship out early this year.

David P. Reed, the president of North American Operations for Ceradyne, said in a release that he was “extremely pleased” with the order.

“We have been supplying lightweight ceramic armor to [the Special Operations Command] since the late 1990s and believe our past history of high quality and on-time deliveries helped us in this recent ‘win,’” he said.

— Michael Miller