The leveraged finance market reawakened in 2024, and Morgan Stanley was at the centre of some of its most important deals. The firm took a leadership role in the more than $9 billion debt financing for Truist’s insurance division sale to Stone Point and CD&R – then the largest leveraged buyout to clear the market in over two years. It was a crucial inflection point for market confidence, catalysing a broader recovery in sponsor-backed financing activity.
“That was the case study that really set the tone for the rest of 2024,” says Cody Gunsch, head of US leveraged finance capital markets. “We took a leadership role at a moment when conviction was needed.”
In a further show of strength, Morgan Stanley led the bond portion of the capital markets-funded dividend recap for Alliant Insurance – one of the largest private equity-backed dividend deals of the year. Pricing on the bonds was exceptionally tight, setting a record for the rating profile involved. These transactions reflected Morgan Stanley’s ability to guide sponsors through capital structure optimisation during a year of limited monetisation alternatives.
The firm also helped syndicate over $1.9 billion in second lien term loans – reviving a segment that saw zero broadly syndicated deals in 2023. As pricing compressed, Morgan Stanley used its platform to stretch leverage intelligently, increasing transaction capacity while maintaining strong investor appetite.
Event-driven and acquisition financing
Morgan Stanley’s strength in event-driven financings was unmatched. The firm was the sole arranger and bookrunner on a $10 billion bridge loan for Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications – a deal that was syndicated within two weeks with 100% participation from invited lenders. For Arthur J. Gallagher’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Assured Partners, Morgan Stanley served as joint financial adviser, sole bookrunner on a $13.45 billion bridge, joint bookrunner on the $5 billion bond issue, and lead left on the record $8.5 billion equity follow-on.
Morgan Stanley’s financing business is not reliant on lending-linked mandates. Instead, it prides itself on competing (and winning) on the strength of its ideas, execution and relationships
The firm also led the $15 billion bond financing for AbbVie, supporting its acquisitions of ImmunoGen and Cerevel. The seven-tranche transaction marked AbbVie’s return to the IG market after a five-year hiatus. Morgan Stanley had already provided a $9 billion sole-underwritten bridge in 2023 and led every step of the capital structure through to long-term financing.
Private credit meets public markets
Morgan Stanley has been instrumental in blurring the lines between public and private financing. One of the clearest examples of this convergence was the $3.2 billion multi-instrument financing for The Ardonagh Group, a UK-headquartered insurance brokerage backed by Madison Dearborn and HPS. Morgan Stanley raised a $2.3 billion senior secured bond offering across USD and EUR, alongside a $900 million private credit loan. The firm then layered in broadly syndicated term loans as markets evolved – delivering a unified capital structure across currencies, markets and investors.
This was a fully integrated solution that demonstrated how public and private markets can be married to deliver optimal cost of capital and execution certainty. “It converged all of the year’s themes into one transaction – a case study of what the markets can deliver when everything is firing,” notes Gunsch.
Trusted execution for repeat clients
Many of the firm’s marquee wins in 2024 were not one-offs – they were the result of longstanding relationships and repeat trust. Netflix, Uber, Meta, Charter and T-Mobile all returned to Morgan Stanley for their latest bond offerings, continuing a trend of multi-year partnerships where Morgan Stanley consistently delivered top-tier execution and pricing advantage.
Tammy Serbée, global co-head of investment grade debt capital markets, explains: “Our client relationships are enduring – once they begin working with us, they tend to stay, recognising the value of our deep and broad insights and the strength of our execution capabilities.”
Unlike some of its peers, Morgan Stanley’s financing business is not reliant on lending-linked mandates. Instead, it prides itself on competing (and winning) on the strength of its ideas, execution and relationships. Teddy Hodgson, global co-head of investment grade debt capital markets, explains: “It’s a level playing field, and we consistently deliver based on trust, judgement and a better read on market depth and pricing than our peers.”
With dominant positioning in leveraged finance, unmatched credentials in acquisition-related deals, and pioneering execution in public-private convergence, Morgan Stanley’s financing business in North America excelled in 2024. The firm’s recognition by Euromoney reflects not just deal volume – but deal quality, strategy and trust.
