Invesco, Barings forge retail private credit-tie up

Invesco Ltd. is teaming up with MassMutual’s asset-management arm to sell private credit investments to everyday investors, becoming the latest traditional money manager to expand deeper into the market for alternative assets. 

The partnership is intended to combine the fixed-income abilities of MassMutual subsidiary Barings with Invesco’s distribution network across US wealth markets, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. The tie-up will initially focus on private credit and will expand later, they said. 

Barings has about $442 billion in institutional and insurance client assets. MassMutual is Invesco’s largest shareholder and will commit $650 million in capital to start.

“We believe our complementary capabilities will create a formidable combination helping us deliver unique income solutions for the US Wealth segment,” Andrew Schlossberg, president and chief executive officer of Invesco, said in the statement. Invesco managed about $1.8 trillion at the end of March.

Traditional managers of stocks and bonds as well as leading private equity firms have been angling for a bigger share of the market for wealthy and everyday US investors. 

Blackstone Inc. is teaming up with Vanguard Group and Wellington Management Co., while Capital Group is partnering with KKR & Co. BlackRock Inc., meanwhile, acquired leading managers of private credit and infrastructure assets and is beginning to introduce private assets into model portfolios in the wealth market.

Invesco and MassMutual also announced a repurchase of $1 billion of Invesco preferred stock.