Canary Wharf owner Morgan Stanley Real Estate is a behemoth: a beast of enormous size and power. The US investment bank has $38bn (€32bn) invested globally, lends and securitises billions more on property and advises on deals worth multiples of that figure.

The noughts are clocking up. Morgan Stanley has drummed up billions of dollars for its opportunity funds. It pioneered this type of investing, starting with the US in 1991 and going international a few years later.