Moribund primary equity capital markets and a rising interest rate environment meant that investment banks were tested more than ever in the past 12 months as they sought to give clients the options they needed in spite of poor conditions.
Morgan Stanley did this better than any bank in the US over the period under review. Not surprisingly, given that the firm is the world’s best investment bank this year, Morgan Stanley also takes the US award for best investment bank.
Morgan Stanley considers advice, particularly for M&A, to be the heart of its investment bank. Therefore, it is unsurprising that it is Morgan Stanley’s M&A mandates that most often catch the eye. And whether it was the bank’s support for Elon Musk in his pursuit of Twitter, a $41 billion deal that will be the yardstick for take-privates in the future, or the $30 billion spin-off of GE HealthCare or the $17 billion sale of Citrix to private equity buyers Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coastal Capital, the bank was notable for its leading involvement in the deals that everyone was talking about.
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