Morgan Stanley has agreed to acquire transfer agent and shareholder recordkeeping platform Vinyl Equity as it looks to strengthen its equity management offering for public and private companies.

The acquisition will add transfer agency capabilities to Morgan Stanley at Work, the corporate and workplace financial services division of Morgan Stanley that provides employee benefit programs, equity compensation management, and financial wellness tools.

The company said the move will enable it to offer equity administration, share transfers and wealth management services through a single platform.

Founded in 2022, Vinyl Equity is an SEC-registered transfer agent that provides digital shareholder recordkeeping and transfer services. The company has developed a platform that replaces many manual transfer agent processes with digital workflows, real-time reporting and automated administration.

Morgan Stanley said the acquisition will help companies manage equity ownership throughout their lifecycle, including private funding rounds, initial public offerings and other liquidity events.

The bank added that the acquisition will strengthen its digital asset strategy by providing infrastructure that could support future tokenisation initiatives.

Morgan Stanley at Work currently serves more than 3,400 corporate clients and 6.7 million participants. The business supports around half of the companies in the S&P 500 and more than 70 per cent of the world's 100 largest unicorn companies by market capitalisation, according to the bank.

It also expects the acquisition to complement Morgan Stanley's existing private markets ecosystem, which includes EquityZen, its private share marketplace, and its strategic relationship with equity management platform Carta.

The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, with Morgan Stanley expecting to complete the acquisition during the first quarter of 2027.

Scott Whatley, head of Morgan Stanley at Work, said clients had called for greater innovation in equity ownership infrastructure.

"Vinyl helps us meet that demand while strengthening the integrated experience we deliver to issuers and shareholders," he said. "As a global, differentiated and scaled equity compensation administrator, we help thousands of companies through their lifecycle. Adding Vinyl's transfer agency capabilities helps us further deepen these relationships."

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