Barings to Buy Business Development Company Lender Sierra Income

Investment firm Barings BDC Inc. has agreed to buy Sierra Income Corp. in a deal valued at $623.7 million that will lift Barings to among the top 10 biggest business-development companies.

Barings BDC and Sierra will merge into a $2.2 billion entity that will be managed by Barings LLC, the companies said in a statement. Sierra is currently managed by alternative asset-management firm Medley Management Inc.

For Barings, the increase in scale means it can hold larger loans and to tap the investment-grade bond market for its financings needs, Jonathan Bock, chief financial officer at Barings BDC, said ...