Guy Metcalfe, chairman of Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking franchise, has decided to retire after 33 years at the New York investment bank, a person familiar with the situation told CoStar News.
Metcalfe will stay on through early 2024, the person said. An internal Morgan Stanley memo cited by Bloomberg News said Metcalfe was preparing to exit.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment to CoStar News and Metcalfe didn’t respond to a request seeking a comment.
Metcalfe, who joined Morgan Stanley in 1990 as an analyst in the investment banking division, became part of the firm’s real estate group in 1994 and worked across investment banking, commercial real estate lending and principal investing, the person familiar with the matter told CoStar.
He was promoted to managing director in 2002 before becoming global head of Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking in 2006 and global chairman of real estate in 2013, the person said.
Seth Weintrob, who has been leading the team, will continue to do so, the person said.
At Morgan Stanley, Metcalfe has been involved in over $850 billion in transactions and advised the firm on its own key real estate deals, including Morgan Stanley’s sale of its original European headquarters building at London’s Canary Wharf; the sale of 522 Fifth Ave. in New York; and Morgan Stanley’s relocation to its current global headquarters at 1585 Broadway in Times Square, the person said.
“Under Guy’s leadership, the Morgan Stanley real estate franchise has been the global leader in facilitating and completing large, industry-defining real estate transactions,” Metcalfe’s LinkedIn page says.
Other deals Metcalfe, 56, has worked on include Blackstone Group’s $39 billion purchase in 2007 of Sam Zell’s Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007, the largest leveraged buyout deal at the time, according to Bloomberg.
“He’s liked and trusted by everybody in real estate,” Blackstone President Jon Gray told Bloomberg this week, adding he's worked on many deals, including the Equity Office transaction, with Metcalfe. “Guy played a leading role in some of the largest dispositions and sales of public companies. He carved out a successful niche in that area.”