Morgan Stanley Names Graham Keniston-Cooper to Lead its Private Equity Business in Europe

Morgan Stanley announced today that it has named Graham Keniston-Cooper to lead its private equity business in Europe. Mr. Keniston-Cooper was most recently at Lazard European Private Equity Partners.

Mr. Keniston-Cooper will be responsible for building a private equity team based in London and establishing Morgan Stanley’s European private equity business for third-party investors. He will focus on direct investments, joint ventures, leveraged buyouts and fund investments in Europe. He will report to Stephen Trevor and Alan Jones, Global Co-Heads of Morgan Stanley’s Private Equity Business, part of the Merchant Banking Division of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). Mr. Trevor is also Global Co-head of Merchant Banking.

Mr. Keniston-Cooper served from 2004 to 2006 as a Managing Partner at Lazard European Private Equity Partners LLP where he was responsible for setting up and managing Lazard’s pan-European Private Equity business. Prior to joining Lazard, he was a partner and Director of Cinven for 11 years where he was involved in all aspects of private equity activities and led transactions across a range of sectors and geographies with a particular focus on consumer related businesses. Prior to Cinven, Mr. Keniston-Cooper was Head of Business Development at Kingfisher plc for six years and was a senior consultant at The Boston Consulting Group for five years. He has a first class masters degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University.

“We are pleased that Graham will be leading the development of our private equity business in Europe,” said Owen Thomas, President of MSIM. “As we continue to grow our private equity business, we are focused on assembling a team of top talent from both inside and outside Morgan Stanley who can utilize the full resources and capabilities of the Firm to create industry-leading private equity products for our clients.”

“Graham has a proven track record in European private equity investing,” said Trevor. “We believe his knowledge and expertise will help drive the success of our private equity business, not only in Europe but globally as well.”