In the course of the year, Morgan Stanley was involved in the largest merger ever. Novartis combined Swiss pharmaceuticals companies Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz to create $20 billion of market value on the first day of trading.
Morgan Stanley also advised on the largest demerger ever, worth $29.7 billion, for General Motors. This was followed by the second-largest demerger, telecommunications company Lucent Technologies, worth $24.1 billion.
Morgan Stanley also advised British Telecom on the merger with US telecommunications company MCI, a $25.9 billion deal.
Seven of the 10 largest mergers, seven of the 10 largest defence situations and six of the 10 largest demergers last year were done under Morgan Stanley auspices.
In addition to having the largest volume of business last year, Morgan Stanley is also notable for the breadth of its geographical coverage. It ranks number one globally, in the US and in Asia, and it hopes that soon-to-be-completed transactions in Europe will take it from second to first position there as well.
Top tier JP Morgan JP Morgan has made leaps and bounds in mergers and acquisitions, doubling its share of the European market to 20% in the last four years.