Barings Corporate Investors : Quarter Ended June 2022 – Barings Corporate Investors

Barings Corporate Investors

Report for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2022

Adviser	Transfer Agent & Registrar
Barings LLC	DST Systems, Inc.
300 S Tryon St., Suite 2500	P.O. Box 219086
Charlotte, NC 28202	Kansas City, Missouri 64121-9086
	1-800-647-7374
Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
KPMG LLP	Internet Website
Boston, Massachusetts 02110	https://www.barings.com/en-us/guest/funds/closed-end-
	funds/barings-corporate-investors
Counsel to the Trust	Barings Corporate Investors
Ropes & Gray LLP
c/o Barings LLC
Boston, Massachusetts 02111
300 S Tryon St., Suite 2500
Custodian	Charlotte, NC 28202
1-866-399-1516
State Street Bank and Trust Company
Boston, Massachusetts 02110

Investment Objective and Policy

Barings Corporate Investors (the "Trust") is a closed-end management investment company, first offered to the public in 1971, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "MCI". The Trust's share price can be found in the financial section of most newspapers under either the New York Stock Exchange listings or Closed-End Fund Listings.

The Trust's investment objective is to maintain a portfolio of securities providing a current yield and, when available, an opportunity for capital gains. The Trust's principal investments are privately placed, below-investment grade, long-term debt obligations including bank loans and mezzanine debt instruments. Such private placement securities may, in some cases, be accompanied by equity features such as common stock, preferred stock, warrants, conversion rights, or other equity features. The Trust typically purchases these investments, which are not publicly tradable, directly from their issuers in private placement transactions. These investments are typically made to small or middle market companies. In addition, the Trust may invest, subject to certain limitations, in marketable debt securities (including high yield and/or investment grade securities) and marketable common stocks. Below-investment grade or high yield securities have predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to the capacity of the issuer to pay interest and repay principal.

The Trust distributes substantially all of its net income to shareholders each year. Accordingly, the Trust pays dividends to shareholders four times per year. The Trust pays dividends to its shareholders in cash, unless the shareholder elects to participate in the Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan.

Form N-PORT

The Trust files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on part F of Form N-PORT. This information is available (i) on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov; and (ii) at the SEC's Public Reference Room in Washington, DC (which information on their operation may be obtained by calling

1-800-SEC-0330). A complete schedule of portfolio holdings as of each quarter-end is available upon request by calling, toll-free,866-399-1516.

Proxy Voting Policies & Procedures; Proxy Voting Record

The Trustees of the Trust have delegated proxy voting responsibilities relating to the voting of securities held by the Trust to Barings LLC ("Barings"). A description of Barings' proxy voting policies and procedures is available (1) without charge, upon request, by calling, toll-free866-399-1516; (2) on the Trust's website at https://www.barings.com/en-us/guest/funds/closed-end-funds/barings-corporate-investors; and

1. on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Information regarding how the Trust voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available (1) on the Trust's website at https:// www.barings.com/en-us/guest/funds/closed-end-funds/barings-corporate-investors; and (2) on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.

Legal Matters

The Trust has entered into contractual arrangements with an investment adviser, transfer agent and custodian (collectively "service providers") who each provide services to the Trust. Shareholders are not parties to, or intended beneficiaries of, these contractual arrangements, and these contractual arrangements are not intended to create any shareholder right to enforce them against the service providers or to seek any remedy under them against the service providers, either directly or on behalf of the Trust.

Under the Trust's Bylaws, any claims asserted against or on behalf of the Trust, including claims against Trustees and officers must be brought in courts located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Trust's registration statement and this shareholder report are not contracts between the Trust and its shareholders and do not give rise to any contractual rights or obligations or any shareholder rights other than any rights conferred explicitly by federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.

Barings Corporate Investors

July 31, 2022

TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS

We are pleased to present the June 30, 2022 Quarterly Report of Barings Corporate Investors (the "Trust").

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE

The Board of Trustees declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, payable on September 9, 2022 to shareholders of record on August 29, 2022. The Trust paid a $0.24 per share dividend for the preceding quarter. The Trust earned $0.23 per share of net investment income net of taxes for the second quarter of 2022, compared to $0.21 per share in the previous quarter.

During the second quarter, the net assets of the Trust decreased to $333,575,984 or $16.46 per share compared to $341,256,927 or $16.84 per share on March 31, 2022. This translates to a -0.85% total return for the quarter, based on the change in the Trust's net assets assuming the reinvestment of all dividends. Longer term, the Trust returned 8.40%, 9.44%, 9.05%, 10.86%, and 11.58% for the 1, 3, 5, 10, and 25-year periods, respectively, based on the change in the Trust's net assets assuming the reinvestment of all dividends.

The Trust's market price decreased 12.0% during the quarter, from $15.23 per share as of March 31, 2022 to $13.41 per share as of June 30, 2022. The Trust's market price of $13.41 per share equates to an 18.5% discount to the June 30, 2022 net asset value per share of $16.46. The Trust's average quarter-end discount/premium for the 3, 5 and 10-year periods was -7.4%,-4.1% and 3.6%, respectively. U.S. fixed income markets, as approximated by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index and the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index, decreased 9.8% and 4.4% for the quarter, respectively.

PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY

The Trust closed nine new private placement investments and 16 add-on investments to existing portfolio companies during the second quarter. The total amount invested by the Trust in these transactions was $17,705,430. Of note, the new platform investments included two fixed rate Sr. Subordinated Notes and seven floating rate term loans, six of which included equity co-investments, and the add-on investments consisted of all floating rate term loans, one of which included an equity co-investment.

With demand for products and services continuing to increase, one key question is whether supply chains can keep up with the renewed demand and whether we will see material increases in prices as a result of supply-chain bottlenecks, rising raw material and energy costs and labor shortages. Across the world, and particularly in regions with large manufacturing sectors which depend on international trade, these risks may be key. However, it is important to note that such issues do not affect every geography and sector the same. When constructing portfolios, we focus on investing in high-quality businesses that are leaders in their space and offer defensive characteristics that we believe will allow them to perform through the cycle. Therefore, while segments of the broader economy may be affected by potential supply chain issues, increasing raw material and energy costs and labor shortages, we remain confident in the current diverse portfolio to perform through the potential cycle.

We continue to be selective in our investment choices and maintain our underwriting discipline throughout multiple cycles. First, the Trust continues to invest in first lien senior secured loans in high-quality companies in defensive sectors and remains well diversified by industry. This was a strategy put in place more than five years ago and has provided strong risk adjusted returns for the Trust given their senior position in the capital stack. As of June 30, 2022, 64.0% of the Trust's investment portfolio is in first lien senior secured loans compared to 2.6% as of December 31, 2017. These investments have proven resilient to date and their management teams now have the benefit of having a wealth of knowledge to draw upon from working in such unique and challenging circumstances. We continue to see sustained performance from our junior debt and equity positions. Second, in addition to evaluating the quality of a credit, another key factor in deciding whether to pursue an investment is the capital structure of the portfolio company along with the quality of the ownership and management groups. As fundamental long-term investors, we believe it is imperative to remain disciplined through the cycle and agree to a capital structure which will remain sound through the cycle (and various interest rate environments). Third, we hold meaningful investment liquidity based on the Trust's combined available cash balance and short-term investments of $13,241,804 or 3.5% of total assets, and low leverage profile at 0.13x as of June 30, 2022. We have strengthened our liquidity position with a $30.0 million committed revolving credit

(Continued)

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facility with MassMutual (See Note 4). This facility coupled with the current cash balance provides ample liquidity to support our current portfolio companies as well as invest in new portfolio companies. As always, the Trust continues to benefit from strong relationships with our financial sponsor partners which provides clear benefits including potential access for portfolio companies to additional capital if needed, strategic thinking alongside their management teams and high-quality and timely information which is only available in a private market setting. This allows us to work constructively together and maximize the portfolio companies' long-term health and value.

In closing, we believe it is always appropriate to provide views on the Trust's long-term dividend policy which is to say, 'we believe that long-term dividends should be a reflection of long-term core earnings power, even when core earnings power is lower as a result of a higher quality asset mix'. The Trust's recently announced dividend of $0.24 per share sits slightly above our most recently reported net investment income of $0.23 per share, net of taxes. That said, as we continue to both (1) deploy the Trust's excess liquidity and (2) seek opportunities to shift the Trust's non-yielding equity investments to senior secured loans, we expect long-term earnings power to meet the dividend distribution.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of Barings Corporate Investors.

Sincerely,

Christina Emery

President

Portfolio Composition as of 06/30/22*

Public Bank Loans		Public Debt
1.8%	0.4%	Cash & Short-Term
Cash & Short-Term			Investments
Investments		Public Equity	3.5%
3.5%	0.0%
Private Debt			Fixed Rate
		12.4%
9.1%
Private / Restricted
Equity			Equity
11.8%			11.9%

	Floating Rate
Private Bank Loans	72.2%
73.4%

* Based on market value of total investments

Cautionary Notice: Certain statements contained in this report may be "forward looking" statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made and which reflect management's current estimates, projections, expectations or beliefs, and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are subject to change at any time based upon economic, market or other conditions and may not be relied upon as investment advice or an indication of the Trust's trading intent. References to specific securities are not recommendations of such securities, and may not be representative of the Trust's current or future investments. We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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Barings Corporate Investors

Hypothetical growth of $10,000 Investment (unaudited)

$25,000

$20,000

$15,000

$10,000

$5,000

$19,071

$15,487

7/1/2012	6/30/2013	6/30/2014	6/30/2015	6/30/2016	6/30/2017	6/30/2018	6/30/2019	6/30/2020	6/30/2021	6/30/2022
			Barings Corporate Investors			Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index

Average Annual Returns June 30, 2022	1 Year	5 Year	10 Year
Barings Corporate Investors	-5.92%	5.20%	6.67%
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index	-12.81%	2.10%	4.47%

Data for Barings Corporate Investors (the "Trust") represents returns based on the change in the Trust's market price assuming the reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The graph and table do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on distributions from the Trust or the sale of shares.

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