AWARDS
for several of its attempted loans failing to see the light of day. This In the former it advised Reliance Industries on its acquisition of
year Stanchart has been much more judicious in the application of a 24% stake in Reliance Petroleum, plus a consortium’s acquisition
its funds, even as the bank has built its strength in the region’s lend- of Hong Kong-based mining company Smart Rich Energy Finance
ing markets. for US$638.4 million, which was completed in July.
Highlights include Stanchart’s participation in the US$900 mil- Morgan Stanley’s work in the latter included advising NTT
lion-equivalent leveraged financing as part of Kohlberg Kravis & DoCoMo on its US$2.6 billion acquisition of a stake in Tata
Roberts acquisition of Oriental Brewery, our leveraged financing Teleservices and eBay’s acquisition of Korea’s Gmarket for US$1.19
deal of the year, and Noble Group’s US$2.4 billion facility, our top billion.
syndicated loan. The main criticism that can be levelled at the bank is that rela-
Standard Chartered popped up everywhere in Asia. In Hong tively few of its deals were benchmarks, whereas Credit Suisse and
Kong it helped to arrange a HK$5.2 billion (US$670.6 million) loan UBS, the leading competition for this award, could boast a couple
facility for Hutchison Telecom, the largest telecom-linked loan apiece.
facility of the year. In China it conducted a Rmb1.2 billion But Credit Suisse and UBS had glaring geographic weaknesses,
(US$175.7 million) loan for China Prosperity Petrochem with the former absent in India, the second-largest market for M&A,
(Jiangyin), the largest onshore renminbi loan for a private Chinese and the latter failing to do a deal in Korea, the third largest.
firm. Morgan Stanley had no such holes. As a result it earns this year’s
In India Stanchart helped to arrange a US$1 billion loan for top M&A award – by a whisker.
Jaguar Land Rover, the country’s largest non-rupee loan in the year,
while it arranged a US$600 million loan facility for San Miguel in
the Philippines. BESTINVESTMENTBANK
The bank has been willing to put its balance sheet to work in a Morgan Stanley
more direct manner, too. Its HK$3.1 billion revolving facility for
Fortune Reit was one of the few fully underwritten loans of the
year. Plus it was involved in transactions in places as diverse as US investment bank Morgan Stanley wins our overall investment
Pakistan and Vietnam. banking award for being the most consistent institution.
The institution that offered the most serious regional rivalry Whenever Asiamoney asked rival banks which institution they
with Stanchart was DBS. It was responsible for more loan volume, tended to most often compete with, the US investment bank was
but we felt that it lacked the sheer breadth of geographic coverage, invariably their first answer. Boasting long-serving bankers in
as well as missing out on key deals such as the Oriental Brewery almost every department, Morgan Stanley enjoys a breadth of expe-
leveraged financing. rience that few of its rivals can match. Even the loss of Matthew
Ginsburg as head of investment banking in May seems to have done
little to halt its momentum.
BESTM&AADVISER Each individual product business continued to perform
Morgan Stanley admirably during a topsy-turvy year. Morgan Stanley gave UBS a
run for its money in equity, it was the most diverse of its direct rivals
for its M&A and it even notched up some good bond issues,
M&A volumes have been thin over the past year. During our awards although this remains its largest weakness.
period of December 2008 to November 2009 it dropped 60% com- The bank boasted a set of deals that reflected the year’s develop-
pared with the previous 12 months. ments. Early in 2009 it participated in the US$2.38 billion stake
Given the lack of deal flow, every bank had areas of strength sell-down in Bank of China, and it followed this with the US$1.98
and weakness. Ultimately Asiamoney felt that Morgan Stanley billion rights offering for Development Bank of Singapore. Other
offered the best combination of geographical coverage in the standouts include the IPO of Maxis in Malaysia, and Metallurgic
busiest M&A markets, and decent – though by no means compre- Corp. of China’s US$39.76 billion Hong Kong listing.
hensive – industry coverage. On the bond side it participated in the US$1.5 billion bond for
Particularly noteworthy was its coverage of financial institu- Temasek of Singapore, a US$3.5 billion benchmark for Malaysia’s
tions M&A, by far the most active sector during the year. Petronas, and both the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities
Morgan Stanley benefited from the American International Management’s US$1 billion bond in June and then the Philippine
Group’s (AIG) fire-sale of assets in the region. It advised on Bank of government agency’s follow-up US$600 million exchange and offer
Ayudhya’s US$540 million takeover of AIG Retail Bank and AIG in November.
Card (Thailand), Bank of East Asia’s acquisition of an undisclosed Morgan Stanley’s weakness was in high-yield bonds, but other-
stake in AIG Wealth Management Services, and Far Eastern wise it enjoyed a reasonably diverse year for debt.
International Bank’s small US$80 million acquisition of AIG Credit It was no slouch in M&A either, offering a broad and cohesive
Card (Taiwan). set of business, catching on to the financial institutions consolida-
The bank is also advising Nan Shan Insurance of Taiwan over its tion trend and acting as an adviser on Reliance Industries’ US$2.9
sale from AIG, although as Asiamoney went to press this deal had billion internal acquisition of Reliance Petroleum.
been delayed because of information disclosure issues on the No other institution can offer quite as cohesive a story. UBS,
buyer’s side. Morgan Stanley’s closest contender, thrived in equity but missed out
The US bank conducted several other financial institutions on M&A in Korea, while it failed to execute many benchmark invest-
group (FIG) deals too, including Bank of Ayudhya’s subsequent ment grade corporate bonds, a key development in the year.
takeover of a set of assets owned by GE Capital and Tesco for Ultimately Asiamoney was impressed by the geographic diversity
US$286.9 million. The deal was concluded on November 5. of Morgan Stanley’s deals. It was well-represented in almost every
Additionally, Morgan Stanley conducted deals in the other two major market across Asia, with particular emphasis on China and
M&A areas of note: energy and resources, and telecommunications, India. That conveys a thriving franchise that is well-placed to con-
media and telecom. tinue performing strongly.
42 DEC2009/JAN2010 ASIAMONEY
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