Morgan Stanley flexes private-market muscle with new service

Morgan Stanley is creating more opportunities for its wealth clients to invest in the private markets with the launch of a new concierge desk service.

Through the new private markets transaction desk service the firm announced Monday, Morgan Stanley’s wealth arm is giving qualified shareholders and investors a new platform to buy and sell eligible private company shares in the secondary market.

“Alternative investments like private market shares are only growing in importance as investors seek deeper portfolio diversification,” Jed Finn, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a statement.

Morgan Stanley is touting the new service – which complements other private investment platforms it already offers for wealth management clients – as a way for private company shareholders to get direct support for one-off sales of their stakes.

Apart from its existing client relationships, the firm emphasized its long-standing relationships with leading secondary marketplaces, underscoring its “focus on transaction execution quality” as it helps clients access a broader private-market landscape.

The firm is rolling out the new service amid a trend of broader long-term growth in the private equity markets. According to a report from Pitchbook, the number of billion-dollar growth-stage global companies with venture capital backing has swelled from 150 in 2015 to more than 1,000 today.

“With more investors and capital entering the space, the Private Markets Transaction Desk puts clients in the driver’s seat to streamline complex transactions and address the needs on both sides of the market while working closely with the company,” said Kevin Swan, Morgan Stanley's head of private markets solutions.

The new private markets desk also bolsters Morgan Stanley’s ability to support liquidity programs through its Shareworks equity management platform, which the company says has been behind more than $20 billion in company-led private share liquidity programs since 2020.

To lead its new service – which is now live to facilitate trades for clients – Morgan Stanley has tapped Jeff Urban, an industry veteran who’s headed other leading distribution and syndication businesses across both the public and private markets.

“We are fortunate to possess the largest alternatives business there is, and when coupled with our world-class capital markets and private company solutions, are in a unique position to help meet the needs of both buyers and sellers within the private market,” Finn said.