New York, 17 September 2025 — Morgan Stanley is bringing together its Global Energy team with its Global Power and Utilities team to form a new unified division: the Global Power and Energy Group, according to an internal memo sent out on 17 September. The move reflects the firm’s strategic efforts to respond more nimbly to the evolving demands of the global energy transition, balancing both traditional energy sources and the accelerating rise of renewable power.
Jon Fouts and Michael O’Dwyer will co-head the newly merged group, tasked with integrating the two teams’ capabilities in investment banking, capital markets, advisory, and project financing. Morgan Stanley executives believe that combining the teams will facilitate more coordinated deal execution and better alignment with how clients are navigating the overlapping pressures of decarbonisation, energy security, and supply-chain constraints.
The decision comes against a backdrop of changing energy markets. Globally, demand for power is expanding rapidly — driven not only by population growth and increased electricity penetration, but also by electrification of transport, industrial shifts, and heightened renewable energy deployment. Traditional utilities are under pressure to evolve; new energy projects need scale, speed, and financial innovation. Morgan Stanley’s reconfiguration signals its recognition that energy and power are no longer siloed domains but increasingly intertwined sectors.
By combining the Global Energy and Power & Utilities teams, Morgan Stanley aims to capture operational synergies — reducing redundancies, sharing expertise, and leveraging cross-sector relationships. For clients, the new structure could mean more holistic advisory for large-scale deals that cut across fuel types, infrastructure, regulation, and sustainability goals. It may also sharpen Morgan Stanley’s ability to finance and structure complex projects in renewables, grid infrastructure, storage, and hybrid energy systems.
At the same time, the firm’s leaders are aware of the challenges: integrating two teams with different specialisations; aligning incentive structures; dealing with regulatory and geographical differences; and ensuring that the newly formed group remains agile even with its expanded remit. The co-head model of Fouts and O’Dwyer is designed to balance those demands, so that both legacy energy and newer power/utility priorities get appropriate attention.
For the investment banking sector broadly, this move underscores a wider trend: banks are recalibrating to meet climate and energy transition imperatives, reorienting their deal pipelines toward clean energy, storage, grid modernisation, and power-oriented infrastructure. Morgan Stanley’s internal restructuring may put pressure on rivals to more clearly articulate how they’re structuring their energy advisory arms, or risk falling behind in clients seeking integrated power-plus-energy guidance.
