Artemis’ team to propel U.S. equity division of Barings’ $50+ billion global real estate platform
Transaction structured to provide continuity for Artemis’ team, investment approach, and investor base
Barings, one of the world’s leading investment managers, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Artemis Real Estate Partners (“Artemis”), an $11+ billion real estate investment firm. This acquisition will strengthen Barings’ position in the U.S. real estate market and accelerate the platform’s long-term growth by combining the firms’ complementary investment capabilities and expertise. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Artemis team to Barings, where we share a deep commitment to serving as trusted partners to investors,” said Mike Freno, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Barings. “We view real estate equity investing as a key pillar of growth within our long-term strategy and believe this acquisition will meaningfully enhance our capabilities. We are excited to bring our complementary platforms together to drive further opportunities on behalf of our investors.”
Artemis Real Estate Partners, headquartered in Washington, DC, is a diversified real estate firm with investment expertise across the risk spectrum. The firm has consistently delivered strong returns throughout multiple economic cycles, leveraging its extensive network of operating partners across the United States. The diverse team brings seasoned leadership and execution expertise across real estate product types, including multifamily, industrial, office, retail, hospitality, self-storage, senior housing, and medical office, and has also established itself as one of the industry’s preeminent platforms capitalizing entrepreneurs and emerging managers.
“Barings’ global platform and our shared commitment to aligning interests with investors makes the firm the ideal partner to build on our proven record of successful investment performance,” said Deborah Harmon, co-Founder and co-Chief Executive Officer of Artemis. “We will create a more powerful platform for our investors as Artemis, a Barings company, preserving our culture while creating new opportunities for our team. We are deeply grateful to our investors for the past 15 years and look forward to continuing our partnership as a force multiplier for performance and purpose.”
“Partnership has been fundamental to Artemis since our founding, and today’s announcement represents a natural progression of our decades-long history of building successful teams together,” added Alex Gilbert, co-Chief Executive Officer of Artemis. “We are thrilled to join forces with Barings, combining our extensive relationships and their robust infrastructure to create an even stronger investment platform – one with the capabilities to meaningfully increase access to capital across the risk spectrum for our broad base of joint venture operating partners across the U.S.”
“Deb Harmon and Alex Gilbert are extraordinary leaders, and I am proud to have been their partner over the past 15 years,” said Penny Pritzker, Founder and Chairman of PSP Partners, who co-founded Artemis. “In this time, the incredible Artemis team has created significant opportunity for our investors. Artemis’ partnership with Barings is exciting and the new platform will be a powerhouse in advancing performance and purpose at even greater scale and impact. I look forward to their enduring success.”
“We believe that Artemis’ team and capabilities will be transformative to our U.S. real estate equity business, enabling us to together accelerate our growth and take advantage of the market opportunity for the benefit of our investors,” said John Ockerbloom, Barings’ Head of U.S. & European Real Estate. “With Artemis, a Barings company, as a key component of our platform, we will further enhance our ability to seek out and unlock relative value across the risk spectrum and deliver the best outcomes for investors.”
Eric Partlan, Chief Investment Officer of Barings’ parent company MassMutual, said, “We believe this strategic acquisition will not only enhance Barings’ U.S. real estate equity capabilities, but also provide MassMutual with additional investment opportunities in new, diversified assets within our General Investment Account, ultimately helping to maximize the value we deliver to our policyowners.”
Dechert LLP served as legal counsel to Barings. Berkshire Global Advisors served as financial advisor to Artemis, with Paul Hastings LLP acting as legal counsel.
Barings’ global real estate platform has more than $50 billion in assets under management, including the firm’s $28+ billion global real estate debt business with broad direct origination capabilities and deep credit expertise investing in loans secured by institutional-quality commercial real estate. The platform operates out of 17 offices in nine countries, leveraging a nearly 60-year track record to offer diversified real estate debt and equity solutions across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
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