A 20-year Morgan Stanley veteran, Thomas ran the firmÆs real estate investing business from 1994 and was head of Morgan Stanley real estate from 2000 to 2005. He then became president of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) in December 2005.
Thomas will relocate from New York to take up the new role at the end of the month û but he will also remain on the firmÆs global management committee. Stephen Roach will continue in his role as chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.
Senior Morgan Stanley employees in Asia say off the record that they are pleased with the decision û noting that Thomas ôtotally gets Asiaö and that it was ôa home runö to get him as CEO.
ôOwen has demonstrated the strategic vision and leadership skills necessary to manage and grow complex, multi-regional businesses,ö says John Mack, chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, noting that Thomas helped build and run the real estate franchise and, since 2005, ôcontributed greatly to the improved performance of our asset management division, which has seen increasing revenues and assets under managementö.
Indeed, when Thomas ran MSIM (from the third quarter 2005 to fourth quarter 2007), global assets under management grew from $428 billion to $597 billion and the division's net revenues grew from $679 million to $1.288 billion.
ôAsia is a key growth opportunity for the firm,ö says Walid Chammah, Morgan StanleyÆs co-president. ôWe are confident that under OwenÆs leadership our Asian franchise will continue to be a stand-out performer in the region.ö
Thomas first joined Morgan Stanley in 1987. He began managing the real estate investing business in 1994, was named managing director in 1995 and was appointed head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate in 2000.
With Owen's new appointment, Morgan Stanley announced that the firmÆs global MSIM business will be co-led by Stuart Bohart, Jay Mantz and Stephen Trevor. Mantz and Trevor will continue to co-head the merchant banking group, which is comprised of real estate investing, private equity and infrastructure. Bohart will head all MSIM business outside of merchant banking.
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