May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm by market value, raised $4 billion for a fund that invests in infrastructure projects such as ports and parking lots, the company said in a statement today.

The amount raised exceeded the company's initial target of $2.5 billion, Morgan Stanley said in the e-mailed statement.

``The successful fund-raising underscores the particular demand for infrastructure investment, and broadly, for alternative assets that generate long-term stable cashflows,'' James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley, said in the statement.

Chief Executive Officer John Mack has bolstered Morgan Stanley's money-management unit by adding alternatives such as hedge funds, private equity and the infrastructure fund, which started in 2006. Infrastructure funds are tapping a surge in spending by governments and private companies on services such as water, electricity and telecommunications.

Run by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, the fund invests in assets that provide public goods or services in sectors including transportation, energy and utilities, social infrastructure and communications, the statement said.

Headed by Sadek Wahba, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure's team has offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Purchases by the Morgan Stanley fund include Chicago's Downtown Public Parking System, 80 percent of Canadian port operator Montreal Gateway Terminals and a minority stake in the operator of Venice's Marco Polo airport.

In Asia, the fund will focus on the transportation, energy and utilities sectors, John Myers, a managing director who heads the infrastructure investing business in the region, said in the statement.

Morgan Stanley follows rivals including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a joint venture between Credit Suisse Group and General Electric Co. in raising funds to invest in infrastructure. Goldman's first such fund, GS Infrastructure Partners, raised $6.5 billion in December 2006, including $750 million of the firm's own money.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chia-Peck Wong in Hong Kong at cpwong@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 12, 2008 03:07 EDT