Baron Real Estate Income Fund

Welltower Inc. (WELL) is a $45 billion diversified health care owner and manager of senior housing, including assisted and independent living. Core to its strategy is to partner with top-tier operators and health systems while providing operators access to its proprietary data analytics platform.
We are optimistic about the prospects for Welltower given the substantial opportunity for cyclical recovery and continued secular growth in its senior housing business through occupancy and rent growth. The company also benefits from its proven ability to recycle capital at attractive rates of returns, premier health care platform, partnerships with top-tier operators, and well-respected management team focused solely on creating value on a per-share basis.

American Tower Corporation (AMT) is the largest independent wireless tower operator worldwide, with more than 240,000 towers in 20 countries on five continents.
Increasing demand for wireless data coverage is driving leasing activity by wireless carriers, with mobile data growing more than 25% per year. Since zoning for new towers in the U.S. is difficult to obtain, leasing on an existing tower (tenant colocation) or modifying existing equipment (amendment) is typically the best option. American Tower has been expanding internationally as well. We expect new tenants and higher colocation activity to drive strong organic cash flow growth. We believe American Tower will continue to acquire tower portfolios opportunistically.

Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) is a network-neutral operator of 260 data centers across 70 metro areas and 33 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. It provides highly reliable facilities and offers low-latency interconnection to and among business partners, networks, and cloud service providers.
Equinix benefits from several long-term secular trends, including increasing internet traffic, IT outsourcing, cloud computing, AI, and mobility. As data and customer needs become more global, Equinix should be able to leverage its leading global data center platform. We believe Equinix can continue to grow through new data center development, rent increases, and the addition of value-added services supplemented by accretive acquisitions that increase market penetration and reach.

Prologis, Inc. (PLD) is the world's largest industrial REIT, with a $100 billion global portfolio. 
In our view, industrial real estate has attractive fundamentals over the next several years, with organic growth among the highest across all real estate asset types. Stabilizing demand, driven by the growth of e-commerce, inventory building, and the need for infill locations to service "last mile" delivery, should be able to absorb a sharp decline in supply deliveries over the next several years. Given Prologis's assets, markets, management, and balance sheet, we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from this favorable fundamental backdrop.

Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG) is the largest U.S. mall and outlet REIT, with a $90 billion portfolio consisting of malls (50%), outlets (40%), and international operations (10%).
Simon's size and balance sheet strength should ensure it will stay a dominant force in the U.S. mall business, where scale matters, and in the outlet business (50% market share). Simon has unparalleled access to a variety of capital sources and a distinct cost-of-capital advantage in raising debt and equity. In our opinion, the executive team, led by David Simon, is deep and talented. Simon continues to invest domestically and abroad. We believe the stock price is attractive, trading at a discounted valuation multiple.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (EGP) is an industrial REIT that owns a business distribution building portfolio valued at approximately $8 billion and located primarily in Texas, Florida, and California.
In our view, industrial real estate has an attractive fundamental backdrop over the next several years, with organic growth that is at the high end of real estate broadly. An eventual reacceleration in demand, driven by improving business confidence, the growth of e-commerce, inventory building, and the need for infill locations to service "last mile" delivery, is poised to occur at a time when new supply has fallen sharply. Given EastGroup's assets, markets, management, and balance sheet, we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from this expected growth.

Brookfield Corporation (BN) is one of the world's largest alternative asset managers, with $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM) and more than $500 billion of fee-generating AUM. It owns stakes in several publicly listed affiliates as well as other unlisted investments.
Brookfield Corporation's stake in listed companies, including Brookfield Infrastructure, Business Partners, Renewable Partners, and recently spun off Brookfield Asset Management, is worth $45 per share. We see another $25 per share in unlisted investments and $10 per share in carried interest generated for a total of $80 per share, well above the stock's current price. We think the company will profit from growth in alternative asset management, given its superior track record, highly respected CEO, global reach, scale, and diverse product offerings.

SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) is a leading global provider of large-scale data center services to enterprises, cloud providers, and network operators. The company has 310 data centers in over 50 metro areas around the globe, with 51% of revenue in North America and the remainder in other regions worldwide.
Digital Realty enjoys strong growth prospects driven by cloud adoption, IT/data center outsourcing, and emerging AI applications. With a recurring revenue model, a sticky customer base with long-term leases, scale advantages, and a strong management team, we think Digital Realty is well positioned to take share. It offers a comprehensive suite of services through its acquisitions of Telx Group (network dense interconnection provider), Equicity (eight European assets), DuPont Fabros (U.S.-based wholesale operator), Ascenty (Brazil-based operator), and InterXion (Europe).

Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) is a $30 billion REIT that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of office and retail buildings, mostly in New York.
We believe Vornado is trading at a highly discounted valuation relative to its liquidation value. Vornado also has several sources of embedded value in its portfolio that we believe offer additional upside potential. These sources include improvements in the NYC office portfolio as workers return to offices, the bottoming of the NYC retail portfolio, and the development of the Penn District. Management appears open to pursuing paths to simplify and improve shareholder returns.