Who Owns Barings?

The Barings name has one of the longest lineages in finance. Barings Bank was founded in London in 1762 and grew into one of the most powerful merchant banks in history, financing the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The bank collapsed in February 1995 after derivatives trader Nick Leeson accumulated catastrophic losses, and Dutch group ING acquired its remains for a nominal sum.

The asset management arm, Baring Asset Management, survived under ING and later came under MassMutual ownership. MassMutual had been building investment management capabilities through Babson Capital Management, which it controlled, along with Wood Creek Capital Management and real estate adviser Cornerstone.

In September 2016, MassMutual merged these four affiliates into a single global firm and adopted the Barings name for it. The combined firm, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, focused on public and private fixed income, real estate, private equity, and capital solutions for institutional clients.

Barings serves a dual role. It manages third-party money for pension funds, insurers, and retail clients, and it manages a large share of MassMutual's general account, the investment portfolio backing the insurer's life insurance and annuity promises. That dual mandate supports the mutual company's dividend scale.

Growth continued through acquisitions, including Gryphon Capital Income Trust's manager and expansion in European private credit. In 2025, MassMutual announced a strategic partner would invest in Barings' long-term growth, culminating in MS&AD's $1.44 billion minority stake completed in May 2026. Boston Business Journal reported in March 2026 that the unit managed more than $470 billion in assets, a record.