Fintech platform iCapital Network is to become exclusive feeder fund service provider for Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Alternative Investments Group, with responsibility for the oversight functions of the group’s alternative investment feeder fund assets.
The transaction was completed on 14 March 2019. The alternative investments feeder fund business transferring to iCapital is comprised of approximately 115 investment vehicles across a range of investment strategies. iCapitals proprietary end-to-end technology solution will be leveraged to streamline ongoing operations and administration services for the funds and provide support to advisors and their high-net-worth client base. Following this transaction, iCapital will service approximately USD40 billion in private fund assets for more than 100,000 underlying accounts.
Morgan Stanley has been a trusted, strategic business associate of iCapital for the last two years, and this agreement is testimony to the collaborative nature of our relationship and common goal to enhance the alternative investing process for advisors and their clients, says Lawrence Calcano, Chief Executive Officer of iCapital Network. The iCapital technologys capacity for scale, customisation and support allows us to offer a level of service in the alternative investing industry that has not previously been available and we look forward to providing the highest quality experience for the Morgan Stanley team during this transition.
Morgan Stanley will continue to source and monitor alternative investments for its clients, while providing ongoing guidance to those clients on the role of alternative investments within a diversified investment strategy. Investors in these funds will continue to be clients of Morgan Stanley. Furthermore, iCapital will provide additional elements of technical support for Morgan Stanley advisors to enhance the administrative processes for the broader wealth management portfolio.
“iCapital has emerged as the industry’s leading provider of technology, infrastructure and feeder fund services,” says Jeremy Beal, head of Alternative Investments, Morgan Stanley. “Our relationship with iCapital will bring greater scale and efficiency to our feeder fund business as well as enhanced technology and reporting to our advisors and clients.”
As part of the transaction, iCapital will offer positions to a group of Morgan Stanley employees who currently support alternative investment feeder fund oversight, and the transitioning team will continue to support the fund portfolio to ensure continuity of service.
Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
