Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) today announced that it has won a number of top investment banking awards presented by leading financial publications, including being named the region’s Best Investment Bank for 2009 by FinanceAsia and Asiamoney magazines. IFR Asia and The Asset magazine also named Morgan Stanley as the Best India Equity House.
In its review of the year, IFR Asia wrote that in India Morgan Stanley “stole the limelight with some path-setting transactions and strong execution”. The magazine also described the Firm’s India equity capital markets platform as a “force to be reckoned with”, noting that Morgan Stanley had “figured practically in every deal that mattered during the year”.
FinanceAsia magazine, one of Asia’s most respected financial and capital markets trade publications, also named Morgan Stanley as Asia’s Best Equity House and Best Financial Institutions House.
While these accolades reflect the quality of its advisory and underwriting work, the Firm also had a leading market share for 2009, bookrunning 15 equity deals in India for the year, representing an aggregate deal volume of US$7 billion, 35% of total equity and equity linked capital raised by Indian corporates in 2009 – according to data provided by Dealogic.
“The awards recognize our expertise, our commitment to India and the region and, most importantly, the quality and ambition of our clients,” said Gokul Laroia, Co-Head of Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley in Asia Pacific. “We are proud to have worked on many of the most complex and challenging transactions of 2009, and to have played a pioneering role reopening not only India’s equity capital market last year, but also advising on the year’s first ADR and first major IPO.”
In April, Morgan Stanley helped reopen the equity capital market, bookrunning the US$325 million Unitech QIP. The Firm also helped reopen the ADR and equity-linked market through advising the US$1.6 billion Sterlite Industries ADR follow-on in July and the US$500 million Sesa Goa convertible bond in September. The Firm also advised on 2009’s first major India IPO in August, bookrunning Adani Power’s US$623 million listing.
Morgan Stanley’s other significant equity and equity-linked India transactions of 2009 include acting as sole bookrunner for Indiabulls Real Estate’s US$550 million QIP in May, Hindustan Constructions’ US$100 million QIP in June and Indiabulls Financial Services in US$200 million QIP in July, being the first primary offering from the financial sector in India in 2009. Morgan Stanley was also a bookrunner on Oil India’s successful US$572 million IPO in September, an important transaction in the Government of India disinvestment program.
The Firm also acted as a joint bookrunner on Sterlite Industries’ US$500 million five-year convertible bond in October, the first Indian SEC-registered equity-linked deal of the year.
Mr. Laroia added, “Having reopened the equity capital and convertible bond markets in 2009, we look forward to creating new opportunities for Indian issuers and investors in 2010 and beyond.”
In November, Morgan Stanley announced that P.V. Krishna, previously with Nomura, was joining Morgan Stanley as an executive director and Head of India Equity Capital Markets. He will start in his new role on January 11 and will be based in Mumbai.
In addition to Morgan Stanley’s equity capital markets success in the region and in India, the Firm also performed strongly in mergers and acquisitions advisory. Asiamoney and Thomson Reuter’s publication, Acquisitions Monthly, named Morgan Stanley as Asia Pacific M&A Advisor of the Year. By market share, the firm was the #1 M&A advisor in India for completed transactions in 2009 – according to data provided by Thomson. The Firm advised on the US$2.0 billion merger of Reliance Industries with Reliance Petrochemical, NTT DoCoMo’s US$2.7 billion acquisition of a 26% stake in Tata Teleservices and Providence Equity Partners’ US$428 million acquisition of a 16.1% stake in Aditya Birla Telecom.
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 36 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.
