Morgan Stanley almost set to sell bulk of Australian property assets

It has come to the knowledge that Morgan Stanley will put on the market as much as A$750 million ($680 million) of Australian property assets in an initial share offer and the fact has been corroborated by none other than the Australian Financial Review. What is more, in accordance with the report, Morgan Stanley Real Estate’s Australian unit, Investa, is contriving to sell more than a few office towers into a new vehicle.

Apart from this as per the newspaper, Investa fund’s interests take account of stakes in Deutsche Bank Place at 126 Philip Street, Sydney, and offices at 242 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, housing Telstra Corp.’s headquarters.

Morgan Stanley happens to be a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States and is known for serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. In addition, the company operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with an approximate employee workforce of 45,000. The business enterprise reports US$779 billion as assets under its management and is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Morgan Stanley was formed by J.P. Morgan & Co. employees Henry S. Morgan (grandson of J.P. Morgan), Harold Stanley and others, came into existence on September 16, 1935. In its first year the company operated with a 24% market share (US$1.1 billion) in public offerings and private placements. The main areas of business for the firm today are Global Wealth Management, Institutional Securities and Investment Management.

Only on September 21, 2008, it was reported that the Federal Reserve allowed Morgan Stanley to change its status from investment bank to bank holding company. On September 29, 2008, it was announced that Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest bank, will take a stake of $9 billion in Morgan Stanley equity. In the midst of the October 2008 stock market crash, concerns over the completion of the Mitsubishi deal caused a dramatic fall in Morgan Stanley’s stock price to levels last seen in 1994. The stock grew considerably after Mitsubishi UFJ closed the deal to buy 21% of Morgan Stanley on October 14, 2008.