Justin Hooley

Barings, one of the world’s leading investment managers, has announced the launch of two APAC private credit funds – Barings Australian Private Credit Fund and Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A – with an aggregate amount of over A$690 million.

The Barings Australian Private Credit Fund is an open-ended private credit solution that leverages Barings’ established capabilities in Australia and New Zealand. It aims to provide attractive and resilient potential returns primarily through current income and secondarily through capital appreciation by investing in directly originated loans to private middle-market companies in Australia and New Zealand.

This Fund is tailored to institutional and wholesale investors in Australia who are in search of a robust Australian private credit allocation that provides immediate exposure to the asset class with an attractive yield potential^[2]. The Fund’s launch with seed assets and strong deployment activity is one of the key differentiators in the current market, where transaction flow has been subdued. An established global investment multi-manager has committed over A$230 million in this perpetual vehicle as a seed investor.

“We believe that the Australian private credit market is attractive due to its stable economic and legal backdrop, and it has significant potential for further growth in the years ahead,” said Justin Hooley, Managing Director in Barings’ Asia Pacific Private Finance Group. “We continue to identify numerous opportunities in the Australian private credit market as a result of our market position and the opportunities that derive from our current portfolio, despite the fact that there has been a decrease in M&A activity. As one of the most active lenders in the region with over 13 years of track record and a diversified portfolio, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the compelling opportunity.”

In addition to the Barings Australian Private Credit Fund, Barings has also completed the first close of Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A exceeding A$460 million. This closed-end fund was anchored by a large Asian institutional investor.

“The Asia Pacific private credit market is rapidly evolving into an appealing opportunity for investors,” said Shane Forster, APAC Head of Investment Management and Managing Director in Barings’ Asia Pacific Private Finance Group. “It exhibits comparable attributes to private credit in North America and Europe, including exposure to high-quality borrowers, but with less competition for lending opportunities, geographical diversification and exposure to expanding developed economies such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.”

Barings’ Global Private Finance team has been investing in private credit markets for over 30 years and has invested in over 1,000 platform companies across multiple credit and economic cycles. Barings’ APAC private credit platform has been an active lender in the region since 2011. The team focuses on the developed economies of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong and has successfully deployed over A$5.8 billion¹.

“As we continue to expand our Global Private Finance platform, we see tremendous opportunity to further deepen our capabilities in APAC, a region in which we have been an active direct lender in for well over a decade. We are pleased to see this strong capital raise and ongoing deployment into attractive opportunities, which demonstrates the increasing pace of our global momentum” said Bryan High, Head of Barings’ Global Private Finance Group.

In Australia, Barings Australian Private Credit Fund and Barings Developed Asia Pacific Private Loan Fund 1A are only available to wholesale and institutional clients.

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Notes:
[1] Source: Barings. As of September 30, 2024.
[2] Investment returns are not guaranteed as all investments carry some risk. The value of an investment and its return may rise or fall with the changes in the market.

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Mike Freno

Barings, one of the world’s leading investment managers, has announced the signing of a share sale agreement to acquire 100% of Altis Property Partners (Altis), a leading real estate firm based in Australia. The parties expect to close the transaction on September 1, 2022.

With over 200 investment professionals across 16 offices in 9 countries, Barings has extensive experience and a strong track record of managing real estate investments in the U.S. and Europe. Barings’ global real estate platform provides a broad spectrum of solutions across real estate debt and equity, managing total AUM of US$ 48.9 billion^[1] .

Upon closing, Barings adds 44 professionals with expertise in real estate equity and A$6.079 billion AUM, primarily focused on value-add strategies that complement Barings’ real estate debt team in Australia. Altis’ executive directors and staff will remain with the firm following the acquisition.

Mike Freno, Barings Chairman and CEO said, “We’re excited to welcome Altis to our real estate platform as we strengthen our local investment capabilities in Australia and continue to expand our footprint in the region. Asia Pacific makes up approximately a third of Barings’ third-party AUM and is expected to be a key driver of growth for us. Barings has successfully led private credit and real estate debt investments in Australia and we’re confident Altis will help us broaden our investment capabilities in the region.”

Charles Weeks, Barings Head of Europe and APAC Real Estate, said. “Barings has a well established real estate platform across the U.S. and Europe with expertise in core and value add investments based on our research-driven and local on the ground presence. This acquisition will help further build out our real estate platform in Asia Pacific, with a focus on Australia before expanding into other markets such as Japan and Korea over time.”

Alastair Wright, Executive Director of Altis said. “We are pleased to join Barings, a company with a similar team-based approach, culture and investment philosophy. Altis has built a strong investment track record and solid relationships with our long-term clients. We will continue to execute on our existing strategies, delivering outstanding results for these clients, and we look forward to offering our investment solutions to a broader global client base.”

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[1] As of March 31

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