Morgan Stanley plans to set up shop in Munich to boost coverage of the city’s buoyant industrial and tech scene, following peers such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lazard Ltd.
The US firm is set to open its Munich office by the middle of next year to serve investment banking clients in the technology, private equity and industrial sectors, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. It will be located in the city center and be able to accommodate 16 employees.
Munich is home to a large number of companies in Germany’s blue chip DAX Index as well as young start-ups and technology firms.
With its surrounding lakes and proximity to the Alps, it has also attracted large numbers of wealthy individuals over the past decades, including from Eastern Europe.
Goldman Sachs and Lazard have been opening offices in the Bavarian capital recently, and Perella Weinberg has been there since 2020.
Frankfurt will remain Morgan Stanley’s headquarters in Germany and for its business in Continental Europe. The firm has increased the workforce there to 500 from 150 in 2018.
The Technical University of Munich produces the second-highest number of startup founders in Germany, according to a recent report co-authored by PwC. That gives banks based there the chance to identify and work with entrepreneurs at an early stage.
