Coventry exec returns to roots

Devin Murphy has returned to his roots at Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking group after a 20-month spell at Coventry Real Estate Advisors.

Murphy spent 15 years in Morgan Stanley’s real estate division from 1989 to 2004, including serving as a managing director and co-head of the US banking business.

He then moved to Deutsche Bank as global head of real estate investing bank for four years before joining New York-based retail investment firm Coventry as managing partner.

At the time, Coventry managing partner Peter Henkel said in a statement Murphy had a “proven track record while running the real estate investment banking operations for some of the biggest firms on Wall Street, coupled with his deep, long-standing relationships throughout the industry”.

At Morgan Stanley, Murphy raised more than $5 billion of equity for the MSREF funds, as well as private capital for third party clients. He was also a member of the MSREF investment committee from 1994 to 2004, Coventry said at the time.

In 2009, Devin was also appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Public Infrastructure Advisory Commission.

A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman told PERE the firm was “bullish” about the prospects for real estate investment banking and was “seeing unprecedented opportunities in advising public and private property owners to restructure debt and raise capital. As a firm, we are selectively hiring across investment banking including in real estate.”