What’s Going On Here?Houston, we have an acquisition: Morgan Stanley announced it’d buy investment management firm Eaton Vance for $7 billion in a bid to take its business into the stratosphere (tweet this). What Does This Mean?Eaton Vance has made a name for itself in recent years through highly customizable and tax-efficient investment funds, to the benefit of its mostly American customers. And like almost all investment management firms, it earns a proportion of the cash it looks after as fees.
It seems to have done enough to impress Morgan Stanley, whose purchase will be split between cash and stock. Investors will receive $28.25 and exactly 0.5833 shares of Morgan Stanley for each share of Eaton Vance they own, totaling $56.50. That’s 38% more than Eaton’s shares were worth on Wednesday. Why Should I Care?The bigger picture: Slow and steady.
“Wealth management” – looking after the money of well-to-do individuals – is Morgan Stanley’s smallest but most profitable business segment. So adding Eaton Vance to the mix will give it – and its related investment management business – a boost. Both segments tend to be stable in both good and bad times, especially compared to, say, trading, which has super-high highs and depressingly low lows. Some investors prefer that predictability, which might be why one of Barclays’ investors has been trying to push the British bank toward more stable savings and loans businesses – with no luck.
For markets: The art of the deal.
Morgan Stanley’s CEO has a long-standing reputation as a dealmaker, and he’s expanded his portfolio recently by buying Canadian fintech Solium Capital and online brokerage E-Trade. Between the former’s business in managing employee stock plans and the latter’s catering to a new wave of amateur traders, Morgan Stanley might be building a full-service platform customers would be happy to pay for – a rarity these days. | 
