Morgan Stanley has agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital-first, SEC-registered transfer agent and shareholder recordkeeping platform.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition will add transfer agency capabilities to Morgan Stanley at Work.
It will bring cap table management, equity administration, share transfers, and wealth management infrastructure onto a single platform for private and public market companies.
Founded in 2022, Vinyl has developed a digital-native platform for transfer-agent work, offering digital workflows, real-time reporting, and streamlined administration.
Vinyl Equity co-founder and CEO Rob Schoder said: “Joining Morgan Stanley provides an exciting opportunity to accelerate that vision and deliver our technology and expertise to a broader range of companies.”
Vinyl works with issuers, legal counsel, and banking partners, including during complex periods for private companies such as the IPO process.
The platform is designed to manage the requirements associated with taking a company public.
Morgan Stanley at Work serves more than 3,400 corporate clients and supports 6.7 million participants. Its services cover around 50% of the S&P 500 and more than 70% of the Top 100 unicorns by market capitalisation.
Following the acquisition, Vinyl will sit alongside Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s Private Markets Transaction Desk and private share marketplace EquityZen.
Together, these offerings will support late-stage private companies preparing for an IPO.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management collaborates with private capital software platform Carta.
Morgan Stanley is Carta’s exclusive referral partner for US equity management and workplace solutions for late-stage private companies, and Carta’s preferred wealth manager for its participants.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in first quarter of 2027.
Morgan Stanley wealth management head Jed Finn said: ” As part of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s private-to-public platform, Vinyl’s digital-first technology will help us advance how ownership is recorded, transferred, and managed.”
