Dags, alongside Barings European Research and Strategy Head, Paul Stewart, will lead one of the industry’s most experienced research teams. Globally, Barings’ Real Estate Research platform is composed of seven dedicated research professionals with a combined 121 years of background in strategic thesis generation, market forecasting, and quantitative analytics. The research team supports both the equity and debt investment platforms.

“Collaboration between the investment and research teams across equity and debt is critical to understanding market opportunity and in turn executing our investment theses. Barings is known for our industry leading research capabilities and Dags’ hire only furthers this group’s impact,” said John Ockerbloom, Co-Head of U.S. Real Estate.

Dags, who will report to Ockerbloom, replaces the previous Head of U.S. Real Estate Research, who has retired. Dags joins Barings after almost four years as the Head of Real Estate Research at Ares Management. At Ares, he worked with the senior leadership team to develop the firm’s house view and investment theses while providing strategic market analysis for the investment teams. Prior to Ares, Dags served as Vice President of Research and Strategy at Clarion Partners. Dags began his career as an analyst with the Barings Research team (formerly Cornerstone Real Estate). Dags is a CFA charterholder and holds a B.A. degree in Government from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Connecticut’s School of Business.

Dags will be a member of Barings’ U.S. Real Estate Senior Leadership Team and will serve on the U.S. Equity and U.S. Debt Investment Committees. He will split his time between New York, NY and Hartford, CT.

“The opportunities presented before our industry are massive, exciting, and challenging. The COVID pandemic has shifted and will continue to shift the real estate investment landscape in ways we never anticipated. I am thrilled to join the dynamic professionals at Barings Real Estate and to help plot the way forward alongside a deep bench of researchers,” said Dags.

About Barings
Barings is a $391+ billion* global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment. Learn more at Barings.com.

*Assets under management as of December 31, 2021