Morgan Stanley Partners to Provide Equity, Retirement Services to Newly Public Companies

Morgan Stanley’s workplace services division has signed a deal to be the exclusive provider of workplace benefits and financial planning services to late-stage private companies who are listing publicly.

Through the deal, announced Tuesday, Morgan Stanley at Work will sync up with Carta Inc., a company that assists private companies, funds and limited partners, in both venture capital and private equity, with initial public offerings. When those firms go public, they will be teed up first to go with Morgan Stanley at Work’s services, including executive equity solutions, general financial wellness programs and retirement planning services.  

“Based on each client’s unique needs and situation, Morgan Stanley at Work will offer referred corporate clients additional workplace solutions, including retirement services, deferred compensation, financial wellness, saving and giving solutions, and executive services during their transition to becoming a public company,” Shawn Murphy, head of private markets at Morgan Stanley at Work, said via email.

Morgan Stanley at Work’s Issuer Strategy team can also initially “conduct a detailed transaction readiness assessment for referred clients, which is the process of enabling shares of a private company’s stock to be bought, sold, transferred or acquired in preparation for a monetization event, like an IPO, tender offer or M&A event,” Murphy wrote.

He noted additional services such as capital markets and investment banking services, wealth management and financial advisory services, private wealth management, family office and access to E*Trade.

Morgan Stanley’s leadership has, in recent earnings calls, talked about the growth found when workplace solutions lead to wealth management business.

Jed Finn, the head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, in a statement about the Carta deal, pointed to the current strength of the private market that is leading to companies staying private for longer—in turn gaining size and scale before going public.

“As a result, the next wave of IPOs may include some of the largest, most sophisticated companies to ever go public,” Finn said. “Participants within these companies will need not just equity administration, but all the advice, guidance and financial planning that comes with a significant liquidity event.”

San Francisco-based Carta, founded in 2012 as eShares Inc., which is still its official name, has almost 2,000 companies preparing for IPO, according to the firm. The company represents about $130 billion in assets under management and works with about 7,000 funds and special purpose vehicles.

Those companies that choose to stick with Morgan Stanley at Work in the transition will get the firm’s “experience in supporting public companies across a full spectrum of offerings, from its premier investment banking franchise to the investment and wealth management divisions that can cater to participants at every stage of their wealth journey,” according to the announcement.

Morgan Stanley launched its workplace division in 2019.