I think it’s important to note though that UAE only has an indirect ownership. Morgan Stanley owns majority investment in the LLC. I do believe Chicago got a bad deal out of this.
Indirect interest just means that its ownership is through intermediary entities, which foreign capital usually does in US investments. The Morgan Stanley ownership appears to be funds (either open end or closed end), which means the fund has a variety of investors, typically not disclosed. Morgan Stanley probably has a small interest in the fund, maybe as much as 1%, and it certainly has control as the general partner of the fund and probably as a registered investment advisor. But the capital is most certainly clients outside of Morgan Stanley - for example, if you look at the ownership structure that is disclosed on-line, Morgan Stanley has a "Blocker" entity, probably used to cleanse the investment and cash flow for foreign investors.
So, yes, the UAE owns its interest indirectly, and a Morgan Stanley fund or two owns most of it, but it's not as simple as just that.
What I’m saying is that it’s misleading to say that Chicago sold all of its rights to parking meter revenue to UAE when the LLC involves a bunch of investment firms including one in UAE. OP’s post is misleading.
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u/smiley_82 16d ago
I think it’s important to note though that UAE only has an indirect ownership. Morgan Stanley owns majority investment in the LLC. I do believe Chicago got a bad deal out of this.