Once again, Morgan Stanley is Asia’s best bank for advisory. The investment bank was the undisputed leader in region-wide advisory during the awards period, notching $172 billion in completed and $117 billion in announced transactions.
In terms of announced M&A, it ranked number one in Greater China, India, Korea and Japan – the standout markets in 2023. Morgan Stanley was the top-ranked adviser for financial sponsor-led M&A, with $35 billion in announced transaction volume across 24 deals – making it the leading adviser for both buy-side and sell-side sponsor mandates.
“While 2023 was a challenging year, Morgan Stanley was top ranked for cross-border and financial sponsor transactions and the leading M&A adviser in China, Korea and India,” says Richard Wong, head of Asia Pacific M&A at Morgan Stanley. “As a global bank with superb connectivity and a stable senior team, complexity plays to our strengths. We believe that’s why clients trust us as their adviser.”
The firm was strong everywhere. In India, Morgan Stanley advised Jio Financial Services on its $19.2 billion spin-off from Reliance Industries. In South Korea, it advised pharmaceutical firm Celltrion on its $7.8 billion merger with Celltrion Healthcare. In China, it helped Bain Capital to buy China’s Chinadata Group for $1.4 billion. And in Australia, the firm advised APA Group on its A$1.72 billion ($1.15 billion) acquisition of Alinta Energy’s off-grid power generation assets in western Australia.
Many of the standout offerings of 2023 were landmark events. It was exclusive financial adviser to Bain Capital on that take-private offer for Chinadata, a deal that marked the first foreign takeover of a China digital infrastructure operator and the largest Chinese red-chip take-private transaction.
With CK Hutchison, another longstanding client, the investment bank acted as sole financial adviser in helping the Hong Kong conglomerate to establish a joint venture with EQT Infrastructure. The $3.7 billion deal unlocked the underlying value of Italian telecommunications firm Wind Tre’s wholesale business, by creating the country’s first independent wholesale mobile network services provider.
In July 2023, global technology company SharkNinja listed on the New York Stock Exchange after a de-merger from its Hong Kong parent, JS Global Lifestyle. The deal unlocked $2.1 billion for shareholders, with the combined equity value of SharkNinja and JS Global totalling $6.5 billion, versus JS Global’s previous market cap of $4.4 billion. Morgan Stanley acted as lead financial adviser to SharkNinja.
Morgan Stanley was the undisputed leader in region-wide advisory, notching $172 billion in completed and $117 billion in announced transactions
A month earlier, Morgan Stanley acted as sole financial adviser on the $3.9 billion sale of Swire Pacific’s US Coca-Cola bottling business to its controlling shareholder John Swire & Sons. Morgan Stanley provided critical advice on valuation and transaction structure, resulting in a highly attractive outcome for the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate.
Another deal that highlights Morgan Stanley’s standing among its clientele is Saudi Aramco’s $3.6 billion acquisition of a 10% stake in China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical in March 2023. The deal will see Aramco export oil, plastics and paint to China, as well as become Rongsheng’s second-largest shareholder. In turn, the Chinese refiner will receive 480,000 barrels of oil a day plus an $800 million line of credit.
The firm worked on a host of other deals during the award period, including Volkswagen’s $706 million strategic investment in Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng; China Southern Power Grid’s $2.9 billion acquisition of the Peruvian energy assets of Italy’s Enel; and a $490 million strategic partnership signed by Kotak Mahindra General Insurance and Zurich Insurance Group.
