Morgan Stanley alum opens new firm

Craig S. Phillips, former global head of securitized products for Morgan Stanley, founded a new firm, Ptarmigan Capital, to focus on real estate-related investments in India and U.S. residential markets, said Roland Tomforde, spokesman. Mr. Phillips is chairman and CEO of the new firm. He left Morgan Stanley in April 2006, Mr. Tomforde said. R.V.S. Rao will be chairman of Ptarmigan Capital Investment Advisors, the firm’s real estate investment arm in Bangalore, India. He was executive director and board member of Housing Development Finance, India’s largest mortgage bank.