Chris Koski is set to leave his role as a managing director and global head of investment strategy at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, Infrastructure Investor has learned.
Koski is believed to have handed in his notice and will officially depart the firm later this quarter, a source familiar with the situation said. He is not thought to have a new role lined up at this point, but the departure is believed to be amicable. The strategy is led by Markus Hottenrott, who has been with MSIP since its inception in 2006.
A spokesperson for MSIP declined to comment on the departure. Koski also declined to comment when approached.
Koski, who is based in Toronto, departs the firm after 11 years, having joined in 2013 from his role as global head of infrastructure at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which he joined in 2007 to help set up its infrastructure investment unit. Prior to that, he was also a senior member of the team that built up the infrastructure programme at Canadian pension giant CPP Investments.
His arrival at MSIP helped bolster the team following the 2011 departure of then global head of infrastructure Sadek Wahba and the 2012 departures of Gautam Bhandari and Adil Rahmathulla, then managing director for Asia and executive director for America at MSIP, respectively. The trio went on to form I Squared Capital.
Since Koski’s arrival, MSIP closed the North Haven Infrastructure Partners II fund on $3.6 billion in February 2016 and the North Haven Infrastructure Partners III vehicle on $5.5 billion in December 2019. The firm is in market with a fourth vehicle, with SEC disclosures revealing in December it had raised $3.6 billion to date, although a target size is not known. The group is also planning to launch a $1 billion energy transition fund, according to a report from Bloomberg, although MSIP would not comment on the matter.
Recent deals from the flagship strategy have included teaming up with BlackRock last month to buy the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System from TC Energy and Energir, with the duo paying $1.1 billion for the asset, while in November MSIP agreed a deal worth €764 million for a 70 percent stake in a portfolio of 257 data centres in France. Last August, it formed a joint venture with maritime, energy and logistics solutions company Crowley to invest in the transportation of the offshore wind sector’s supply chain.