Barings increases regional firepower

A Dimensional Fund Advisers' regional director has left the firm to join Barings to run institutional sales.

The US-headquartered investment manager has confirmed that Aaron Thirukumar has joined as director of Australian institutional sales.

This appointment comes just as Barings ramps up its regional team in line with its overall growth strategy.

Thirukumar spent more than four years at Dimensional, the systematic investor.

Before that, he worked at Acadian Asset Management, initially as a client service associate but later as a vice president.

Thirukumar joined Acadian from FactSet Research Systems, where he was a senior consultant working in the relationship management team.

Incidentally, Barings should not be confused with Barings Private Equity, owned by Swedish private equity firm EQT which in 2021 bid for market technology company Iress.

The private equity firm also bid for Perpetual in a consortium play.