Morgan Stanley Goes Hollywood

Morgan Stanley (MS) is expected to announce that it will invest $200 million of its own funds into making movies according to this mornings Wall Street Journal. WSJ continued in the article to cover some other area's of Morgan Stanley's principal investments.

Patrik Edsparr Global Head of Principal Investments painted a picture of broad based diversification over a wide area. While at the same time saying that they were big but not as big as some other players in this arena. OK you do not want us to worry.

So why announce a relatively small move at this time. Morgan Stanley's market cap is approximately $55 Billion. So a $200 million investment is not significant. If they stay true to historical form and continue with debt products you will not achieve equity enhancing returns. Most banks know that if you invested unleveraged equity into debt the rate of return for an equity investor will most likely be inadequate.

If you are about to make equity investments in movies and entertainment than say so.

If you are just topping up some investments what was the point of getting all that ink.