Morgan Stanley expects mergers, IPOs to lag trends through 2024

By Tatiana Bautzer and Arasu Kannagi Basil

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Morgan Stanley expects activity for mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings to remain below trends for the rest of the year, its co-president Dan Simkowitz said on Tuesday.

Activity will probably pick up next year as central banks cut interest rates, said Simkowitz, who also leads the Wall Street giant's Institutional Securities Group.

Transactions will probably increase when U.S. interest rates fall, Simkowitz told investors at a conference in New York. Private equity firms, which have held off on selling assets to get higher valuations, will also come under more pressure to strike deals, he said.

Morgan Stanley's net interest income, or the difference between what the bank makes on loans and pays out on deposits, to be modestly lower in the third quarter, he said.

Shares fell almost 3% in early afternoon trading in New York.

Simkowitz highlighted private markets as a large growth area for Morgan Stanley. The bank has about $500 billion in private market assets managed among its wealth and investment management divisions, he said.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer in New York and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru, editing by Lananh Nguyen)