Alternative Investments | Morgan Stanley

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Overview

Today's investment landscape presents both challenges and opportunities, prompting investors to look beyond traditional asset classes in pursuit of their objectives. Alternatives can serve as a valuable complement to traditional investments, offering access to differentiated return drivers, enhanced diversification, and a broader opportunity set.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management has been investing in Alternatives since 1985. Through the combination of the vast resources of Morgan Stanley and the deep expertise of specialized investment teams, we deliver diversified private market and liquid alternative solutions built for what today's investors require: conviction backed by capability.

Key Differentiators

Scale

$260 billion+ in Alternatives AUM, 600+ dedicated professionals worldwide, and four decades of experience investing across market cycles¹
Comprehensive platform spanning private equity, private credit, real assets, and hedge fund solutions — designed to address a broad range of portfolio needs and risk, return and liquidity objectives
Specialized investment teams with deep domain expertise, supported by the global resources and reach of Morgan Stanley

Selectivity

Deliberate focus on market segments where the opportunity set is most compelling and Morgan Stanley's network and capabilities provide a meaningful advantage
Long-tenured investment teams whose sector knowledge and relationships translate into differentiated sourcing and insight
High-conviction approach that prioritizes quality and risk-adjusted outcomes over asset gathering, with a rigorous filter at every stage of the process

Discipline

Long-term focus on disciplined underwriting, active portfolio management and capital preservation
Comprehensive risk management and governance integrated throughout the investment process
Partnership-based approach anchored in alignment of interest, with co-investment opportunities, customized solutions and tailored portfolio construction

Our Alternatives Platform

We offer a range of strategies across virtually all private market segments.

Private Equity

Asia-Pacific

Climate / Impact

Middle Market Buyout

Co-Investments

GP-led Secondaries

Growth / Venture

Private Credit

Consumer Credit

Direct Lending

Flexible Capital Solutions

Growth Credit

Opportunistic

Real Assets

Private Real Estate

European Real Assets Private Credit

Private Infrastructure

US Real Estate Private Credit

Hedge Funds

Liquid Diversifier

Market Neutral Multi-PM

Strategic Opportunities

Custom Solutions

Featured Insights

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Press Release

groundcover Raises $100 Million Series C to Create the Observability Platform Built for the AI Era

groundcover, the world’s leading bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC), eBPF and OpenTelemetry (OTel)-native observability platform, today announced a $100 million Series C funding round led by One Peak, with participation from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and existing investors Zeev Ventures, Angular Ventures, Heavybit and Jibe.

29-Jul-2026

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Alts In Focus

Hedge Funds 2026 Midyear Outlook

As markets grow more complex and the dispersion of outcomes increases, we believe hedge funds will continue to play a valuable role in investor portfolios through 2026, offering the potential to enhance returns, reduce volatility, and provide diversification regardless of the market’s ultimate direction.

16-Jul-2026

Viewed

Alts In Focus

Real Estate 2026 Midyear Outlook

Performance is increasingly driven by structural growth drivers rather than cyclical market exposure. Secular themes such as AI, deglobalization, demographic shifts and energy demand are creating clear winners and laggards. This environment reinforces the importance of selectivity, diversification and active capital allocation to capture emerging pockets of outperformance.

16-Jul-2026

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Our Alternatives Teams

Led by long-tenured investors, our specialized teams use disciplined processes and strive to provide strong long-term investment results.

Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions Team	Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions provides investors with access to broadly diversified and thematic private equity portfolios, spanning primary fund commitments, co-investments, secondaries, impact investing strategies, and custom solutions.
AIP Hedge Fund Team	The AIP Hedge Fund team delivers a broad range of portfolio solutions to a global client base. Their strategies include custom hedge fund portfolios and broadly diversified, opportunistic and strategy-specific funds.
Morgan Stanley Capital Partners	Morgan Stanley Capital Partners manages a middle-market private equity platform with a strong focus on value creation. The team has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over two decades.
Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia	Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia invests primarily in highly structured minority investments and control buyouts in growth-oriented companies located throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital	Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital specializes in equity and credit investments in late-stage private companies that operate in the technology, healthcare, consumer, digital media and other high-growth sectors.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing	Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) manages global value-add / opportunistic and regional core / core-plus real estate investment strategies. The team's experience encompasses a broad array of asset classes, geographic regions and investment themes across all phases of the real estate cycle.
Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners	Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners invests in a diverse range of infrastructure assets predominantly located in OECD countries. The team seeks to create value through active asset management and operational improvements.
Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure Partners	Morgan Stanley India Infrastructure Partners focuses on proprietary, privately-sourced situations in Indian infrastructure. The team seeks to create value through a growth-oriented strategy focused on active asset management and operational improvements.
North America Private Credit	Integrated private credit platform across Direct Lending and Opportunistic Credit strategies. Our experienced team provides flexible, patient, long-term capital to leading owner-operated and private equity-backed businesses.
Morgan Stanley Energy Partners	Morgan Stanley Energy Partners makes control investments in energy companies primarily located in North America. The team focuses on the buyout and build-up of strategically attractive, established energy businesses across the energy value chain in partnership with best-in-class management teams.
Mesa West Capital	Mesa West Capital is a leading real estate private credit manager, originating commercial real estate loans secured by institutional properties throughout the U.S.
Morgan Stanley Tactical Value	Morgan Stanley Tactical Value is an investment platform targeting private, long-term and likely illiquid investments.
European Real Assets Private Credit Team	European Real Assets Private Credit invests in investment grade and value-add senior loans secured by European real estate assets.
AIP Alternative Lending Group	The AIP Alternative Lending Group specializes in making allocations to loans underwritten by fintech-driven alternative lending platforms, targeting multiple borrower types.
Morgan Stanley Next Level	Morgan Stanley Next Level is the impact-focused private equity business of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, focusing on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments with impact.
European Private Credit Team	Morgan Stanley European Private Credit provides privately negotiated, senior secured and subordinated financings to European middle-market companies. The team supports companies undergoing a wide range of transformations, including leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, acquisitions, growth financings, refinancings, and recapitalisations.

¹Represented as Investable Capital, which includes fee-earning assets under management (AUM), unfunded commitments, co-investments and fund leverage. The fee-earning AUM as of March 31, 2026 is $203Bn. The reported data includes certain capabilities in multiple business lines: Real Assets Credit AUM is included in Real Assets and Private Credit, Collateralized Loan Obligations AUM is included in Fixed Income and Private Credit, Alternative Lending AUM is included in Hedge Funds and Private Credit.

As of March 31, 2026.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Risk Considerations

Alternative investments are speculative and include a high degree of risk. Investors could lose all or a substantial amount of their investment. Alternative investments are suitable only for long-term investors willing to forego liquidity and put capital at risk for an indefinite period of time. Alternative investments are typically highly illiquid – there is no secondary market for private funds, and there may be restrictions on redemptions or assigning or otherwise transferring investments into private funds. Alternative investment funds often engage in leverage and other speculative practices that may increase volatility and risk of loss. Alternative investments typically have higher fees and expenses than other investment vehicles, and such fees and expenses will lower returns achieved by investors.

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