NEW YORK, May 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) today announced that Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners (AIP) raised $585 million in commitments for Morgan Stanley Global Secondary Opportunities Fund LP (GSOF), a fund dedicated to acquiring interests in private equity funds in the secondary market. The capital raised exceeded MSIM's initial $500 million target.
"This successful fund raise demonstrates how MSIM leverages its competitive strengths and draws upon the full depth of resources at Morgan Stanley to deliver compelling investment solutions to our clients," said Gregory Fleming, President of MSIM. "As an integrated platform participating in both the primary and secondary markets, AIP is well-positioned to employ its differentiated investment approach to take advantage of the expected growth in secondary opportunities."
The objective of GSOF is to target off-market secondary opportunities across the private equity spectrum, with an emphasis on small- and mid-cap buyouts, distressed and special situations funds. GSOF is expected to be diversified by managers, strategies, regions, vintage years and portfolio companies. Investors include existing MSIM investors and new limited partners, including endowments, foundations, public and corporate pension plans, family offices, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds.
"We think the market for secondaries is poised for substantial growth in 2010, and we believe that our solutions-oriented approach to secondary investing will continue to be attractive to both sellers and the general partners of the funds we purchase," said John Wolak, Head of Secondary Investing for AIP Private Equity Fund of Funds and Lead Portfolio Manager for GSOF. "MSIM has been an active buyer of secondary interests through AIP's global core private equity fund of funds program, and through our dedicated fund, we will continue to focus on small- to mid-sized managers and the less efficient parts of the private equity universe."
GSOF is the second fund dedicated to secondary private markets that MSIM has closed this year. In March, AIP's Real Estate Fund of Funds team announced that it raised $370 million in commitments for Morgan Stanley AIP Phoenix Global Real Estate Secondaries 2009 LP (Phoenix), a fund dedicated to acquiring secondary interests in opportunistic and value-added private equity real estate funds.
AIP is the fund of funds division of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and has approximately $17 billion(1) of assets under management as of March 31, 2010. AIP manages portfolios of hedge funds, private equity funds and real estate funds for some of the world's largest institutions and high net worth individuals. AIP has offices in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania; New York; San Francisco; Atlanta; London and Hong Kong.
MSIM, together with its investment advisory affiliates, has nearly 1,000 investment professionals around the world and approximately $262 billion in assets under management or supervision as of March 31, 2010(2). By leveraging its global 'community of boutiques' structure and the strength of Morgan Stanley, MSIM strives to provide outstanding long-term investment performance, service and a comprehensive suite of investment management solutions to a diverse client base, which includes governments, institutions, corporations and individuals worldwide.
Morgan Stanley /quotes/comstock/13*!ms/quotes/nls/ms (MS 26.76, -0.33, -1.20%) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,300 offices in 42 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.
(1)AIP's total assets under management is based on (i) the total net asset value of its funds of hedge funds managed investment vehicles and separate accounts, (ii) the value of all partners' capital accounts plus their unfunded commitments of its private equity funds of funds and private equity separate accounts, and (iii) the value of all partners' capital accounts plus their unfunded commitments of its real estate funds of funds and real estate separate accounts. The private equity/real estate assets under management in separate accounts that are not solely dedicated to private equity/real estate managed by the Team is defined as the carrying value of all private equity/real estate assets plus unfunded private equity/real estate commitments.
(2)Amount excludes certain asset management businesses following the decision to sell the Retail Asset Management business to Invesco.
SOURCE: Morgan Stanley
