Fundraising

MSI reshuffle: Hottenrott new global head

As it embarks on a new fundraising, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure has abandoned joint stewardship by three co-heads. One of the three - Anne Valentine Andrews - is leaving the firm.

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Markus Hottenrott, previously one of three co-heads at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure (MSI), has stepped up to lead the firm as global head.

Of the other two former co-heads, Jim Wilmott continues as the firm’s head of Europe while Anne Valentine Andrews is leaving the firm. No details were immediately available about Valentine Andrews’ future plans.

Meanwhile, Chris Koski – the former global head of infrastructure at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), who left that role towards the end of last year – has formally taken up his post as MSI’s global head of investment strategy, a newly created position.

The reshuffle comes as MSI sets about marketing a new fund with a $2.5 billion target, according to market sources. MSIP II is the successor to MSIP I, which closed on $4 billion in May 2008 – making MSIP one of the world’s 20 largest infrastructure investors in the Infrastructure Investor 30 ranking.

MSI previously had a global head of infrastructure in the form of Sadek Wahba, who left the business in 2011 along with European investment professional Vincent Policard. It was in the wake of Wahba’s exit that MSI settled on three-way leadership, though it is understood that this was only ever designed to be a temporary measure.

Further departures followed in 2012, when Adil Rahmathulla, executive director for America, and Gautam Bhandari, managing director for Asia, also departed.

In an exclusive interview with Infrastructure Investor, Koski said his new role “is to co-ordinate our investment activities across different regions and sectors and bring to bear my relationships where I think they can add value.”

He added: “Having spent the last 10 years helping to build the infrastructure programmes at ADIA and CPPIB means I can bring that global perspective.”

He also pointed out that he has known the MSI team for the last decade and worked with them on the Chicago Parking Meters lease in 2008 – a deal which MSI led, supported by ADIA and Allianz Capital Partners.