Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group closed its $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley on October 13, ending speculation that the deal might not go ahead. The terms of the deal were more favourable to the Japanese institution than had originally been agreed, reflecting Morgan Stanley’s troubles. Rather than spending $3 billion of the total on ordinary shares at $25.25 each and the rest on convertible preferred shares with a conversion price of $31.25, MUFG will get a total of $7.8 billion-worth of the convertible preferred shares converting at $25.25 and the remaining $1.2 billion in preferred shares. The new deal offers substantially more protection for MUFG on its investment since preferred shares offer a fixed yield and their holders rank above common equity owners.

Armins Rusis is joining Markit’s executive team from Morgan Stanley as vice-president and global co-head of fixed income, alongside a founding partner at Markit, Kevin Gould. Rusis worked at Morgan Stanley for 17 years and was latterly head of US credit trading and global head of securitized and structured credit trading. Prior to that he worked in Europe, until May where he was head of credit trading. He was replaced by Patrick Lynch.

Conifer Securities, which provides back- and middle-office solutions to hedge funds, family offices and endowments, has bought Morgan Stanley’s outsourced trading business. The platform provides independent trade execution in equities, options and ETFs to Morgan Stanley’s prime brokerage hedge fund clients. Conifer has also recently hired UBS’s former head of prime brokerage for the Americas, Dick Del Bello, as a senior partner.

A sign of the weak prospects for the European securitization business has been provided by Morgan Stanley’s aggressive cost-cutting. Ellen Brunsberg, head of the European securitized products group, is still at the firm but out of the 70-strong team, only 20 people now remain.

Since the beginning of 2006, Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management business has been streamlined into a slicker, more profitable business. Total client assets have increased from $624 billion to $734 billion, and quarterly profits before tax have increased from $20 million to $287 million. Helen Avery talks to Morgan Stanley’s co-president, president and chief operating officer of global wealth management, James Gorman, on how he turned Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business around, the firm’s plans for the future, and his thoughts on the private banking industry.

Buried deep in the announcement of Morgan Stanley’s third-quarter earnings results was a substantial hit from the bank’s newly built hedge funds business.

John Mack has the job he always wanted. One of Wall Street’s leading firms has the leader it desperately needed. Morgan Stanley is now the investment bank with momentum. Mack and his senior management tell Clive Horwood how they revived the firm’s fortunes.

"Those that have known Mack for many years say the experience of losing out at Morgan Stanley at the turn of the decade, the manner of his departure, and his experiences in trying to turn around Credit Suisse, had a profound effect on him both as a leader and as a human being."

On his return to the firm, John Mack demanded a complete overhaul of the MSIM division. That required taking risks and laying bets, but the latest results suggest the division is back on track and might be building a formidable business. Peter Lee reports.

In March, Morgan Stanley became the latest bulge-bracket firm to enter the increasingly crowded Vietnam securities market.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

It may not be the best in every region, but its all-round strength pushes it to the top in a world of tough competition.

Morgan Stanley has hired Gary Cottle as head of corporates in its European global capital markets business. He will be responsible for corporate debt and derivatives, enterprise risk management, liability management and transaction management. Cottle resigned in mid-March from Barclays Capital, where he was head of corporate risk advisory for the EMEA region. During his time at BarCap, Cottle built a well-regarded corporate and sovereign derivative franchise.

The US bank confirms its top position in the league tables.

For me, this story has it all: the human element (man takes decision and then very publicly repents) as well as the corporate element (a battle to the death for talent between Morgan Stanley and Perella Weinberg).

“Given all that has happened I’m surprised it wasn’t negative $60 billion” James Gorman, Morgan Stanley In his first public presentation since joining Morgan Stanley in February as president and COO of the global wealth management business, James Gorman outlined how he intended to turn the dwindling arm into a competitive force in the industry.

At the turn of the century, a friend of mine was head-hunted by Morgan Stanley. He discussed his decision to change firms with me and I counselled him as follows: “Morgan Stanley is a good firm but it’s not the great firm it once was. The aura’s changed.” When pressed to expound, I said lamely that the calibre of people Stanley was hiring seemed to me more mediocre than in the past. Sadly, my friend took that as a personal insult and never spoke to me again.

Morgan Stanley has made its most senior investment banking hire since John Mack took over as chief executive last year and since the departure of one of its star M&A bankers, vice-chairman Joe Perella, one of the key defectors during the turmoil at the bank in the first half of last year.

US bank is surprising frontrunner in league tables.

Arcelor, the Luxembourg-based steel company that has in the past preferred not to use bank advisers, is wheeling out the big guns to defend it against the €18.6 billion ($22.1 billion) hostile bid from Mittal Steel. It has just hired Morgan Stanley, which will join BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Merrill Lynch in advising it. Most of the main advisory firms are involved in the hostile bid on one side or the other. Mittal Steel is being advised by Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Société Générale and Citigroup.

At the end of December, a consortium of international investors led by Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia purchased a 14.3% stake in Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited (ACCC) from its parent company for an undisclosed sum. ACCC, which is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, is the largest cement manufacturer in China and fifth in the world. Fuelled by China’s construction frenzy, ACCC’s cement sales in the first three quarters of 2005 increased 56% over the equivalent period in 2004. The Morgan Stanley investment consortium included the International Finance Corporation.

Larry Trotter and the Bonus of Doom

As the festive season approaches, speculation is rife about who will get the lion’s share of this year’s bonus pool. But that’s nothing compared to the build-up to the Morgan Stanley staff pantomime. As the bank is again generously sponsoring the season at London’s Old Vic Theatre, where Kevin Spacey is artistic director, its employees also get the chance to tread the theatre’s hallowed boards. After the Old Vic production of pantomime ‘Aladdin’, Morgan Stanley takes over the theatre for one night in January to put on its own show.

The bank is set to snatch Goldman's crown for the first half of 2005

The spat between Morgan Stanley's chief executive and former senior managers benefits no one. It is time for Purcell and the grumpy old men to do what shareholders really want – walk away. But has the row left a leadership vacuum at the top of the firm? Antony Currie reports.

Morgan Stanley announces that Dante Roscini will join the firm as a managing director, effective July 1, 2005.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have benefited from another wave of fees as China?s largest listed companies tap stock markets again.

Best bank

Highly commended: Standard Bank London

Highly commended: Goldman Sachs