Morgan Stanley announced today that it has successfully closed Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) Fund with $4 billion of equity commitments, exceeding the firm’s initial target of $2.5 billion. 

James Gorman,  co-president of Morgan Stanley, commented: “The successful fund-raising underscores the particular demand for infrastructure investment, and broadly, for alternative assets that generate long-term stable cashflows.” 

The fund raised its capital globally in North America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Asia.  Investors include major pension funds, insurance companies, high net worth individuals as well as Morgan Stanley and its employees. 

Gorman added: “Infrastructure is now an important component of any asset allocation strategy, it offers portfolio diversification and the ability to invest in ‘real’ assets, with uncorrelated investment returns relative to other asset classes.”

“To date, we have investments that exceed $1 billion in enterprise value that have achieved higher than expected returns,” said Sadek Wahba, chief investment officer and Global Head of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure. 

“The current challenging market conditions are creating unique opportunities in the infrastructure sector, and we are benefitting from our global footprint that is generating a strong pipeline across the Americas, Europe and Asia.” 

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure’s investment team is located in New York, London, Hong Kong and Beijing, with in-depth collective infrastructure experience across various sectors.  The fund targets investments in assets that provide public goods or essential services in sectors such as transportation, energy and utilities, social infrastructure and communications. - TradeArabia News Service