Michael Hehn and Eric Fry have joined Morgan Stanley as managing directors at Morgan Stanley Private Equity with responsibility for building the global private equity business for third-pa
Michael Hehn and Eric Fry have joined Morgan Stanley as managing directors at Morgan Stanley Private Equity with responsibility for building the global private equity business for third-party investors, focusing on leveraged buyouts, corporate divestitures, sponsored recapitalisations, joint ventures and other direct investments.
Fry, who is based in New York, has more than 15 years of private equity experience and rejoins Morgan Stanley after a spell as a managing director with Metalmark Capital from 2004 to 2007. He first joined Morgan Stanley in 1989 and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in 1991, becoming a managing director of Morgan Stanley in 2001. Fry was a member of the investment committees of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners III, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners IV and the Morgan Stanley Global Emerging Markets Fund.
Hehn, who has a decade of private equity experience and will join Morgan Stanley in London next month, was most recently a director and a member of the executive committee at Allianz Capital Partners in Munich, focused on majority investments in western Europe. He previously worked at Merrill Lynch’s Mercury Private Equity (now HgCapital) and Boston Consulting Group.
‘Since deciding to re-enter the global private equity business, we have assembled a team of top talent from both inside and outside Morgan Stanley,’ says Steve Trevor, co-head of both Morgan Stanley Private Equity and the group’s merchant banking division.
‘Private equity investing is an important business to the firm, and with our strong leadership team in place we will capitalise on the firm’s unique relationships around the world and utilise the full resources and capabilities of our firm to create industry-leading private equity products and, we believe, above-market returns for the investors we serve.’
Alan Jones, managing director and co-head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity, adds: ‘Eric and Michael are excellent additions to our team. They both bring a depth of private equity experience that will prove invaluable as we build a world-class private equity investing platform.
‘We believe that the ongoing globalisation and transformation of the economy will produce continued private equity opportunities and that our solid team, coupled with the global Morgan Stanley platform, will be uniquely positioned to capitalise on these opportunities.’
