“It was a really disruptive environment in 2023, with several large bank failures,” explains John Esposito, global co-head of FIG. “There was some normalisation as we rolled into 2024 – and we were on pretty much every deal that brought the market back.”
With a 150-strong team across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, many of whom have been working together for over 20 years, the bank is justifiably proud of its performance in 2024.
“There’s a lot of trust in this team,” says Esposito. “Global coordination is crucial, and we really take advantage of that footprint. We spend a lot of time talking with each other to make sure we’re identifying the right trends amongst our financial services clients and giving the best advice across geographies.”
Led by chief executive Ted Pick, the bank has restructured its FIG capital markets infrastructure to become even more coordinated, as part of its “integrated investment bank” approach. The team now focuses on a handful of key themes including balance sheet solutions, asset management, insurance, loan solutions and private assets.
Big ticket deals
This strength is showcased in the parade of marquee deals throughout 2024 – including advising Discover on its $35.3 billion sale to Capital One, the largest financial services deal of the year – as the only bulge bracket firm involved.
Another landmark was the sale of Truist’s insurance brokerage subsidiary to an investment group led by Stone Point Capital – a complicated transaction in which Morgan Stanley acted as lead financial adviser to Truist throughout the multiple stage process, resulting in a valuation of over $15 billion.
In loan solutions it’s worth noting Morgan Stanley has been the market leader for over a decade, and 2024 was no exception
From loan sales to risk transfer transactions, strategic loan origination to private asset partnerships, it all starts with the same conversation – how to manage the balance sheet at a strategic level.
“We want to help people optimise and structure their balance sheets,” explains Rich Myers, global head of private capital markets and securitised products capital markets. “We approach our clients holistically and our coverage is both integrated and differentiated. When we go to see a client about a strategic issue, we approach it in a product-agnostic and comprehensive way where we can talk about both sides of the sheet.”
Joined up thinking
An example of this holistic approach can be seen in the 2024 Atlantic Union Bank acquisition of Sandy Spring for $1.6 billion, which Morgan Stanley advised alongside an equity raise of $403 million. While not the largest, there were some unique features – with the equity raise designed to help Atlantic Union bolster capital ratios that were declining because of the M&A deal.
“As we got closer to the closing date, we were also in the market selling a portfolio of loans for them,” recalls Esposito. “It illustrates the coordination between M&A, loan solutions, the ECM team and our advisory practice. All this was delivered in the context of one deal, and we think that trend is going to be more prevalent going forward.”
In loan solutions it’s worth noting Morgan Stanley has been the market leader for over a decade, and 2024 was no exception. As the sole sell-side adviser and structurer to Metro Bank for its $3 billion prime mortgage portfolio sale for example, part of a large-scale restructuring that has taken place over multiple transactions, the bank was fundamental to the process.
Grassroots global growth
Central to the firm’s success is its global footprint, with a team spread across continents and able to advise on domestic as well as regional and cross-border deals. “We focus on domestic, first and foremost – and that often leads down the road to cross border,” explains Guillaume Gabaix, global co-head of FIG.
One example of this is the role played by the bank as defence adviser to Sabadell following the $12 billion takeover offer from BBVA. Another is the €1.1 billion takeover by Norwegian bank DNB of Swedish bank Carnegie, in which Morgan Stanley advised DNB. In May 2024, the bank was the sole financial adviser to ABN Amro on its acquisition in Germany of HAL from Chinese conglomerate Fosun International. “The global network of Morgan Stanley works extremely well,” notes Esposito. “We don’t just work cross-country, we work cross-continent.”
A key growth driver has been the uptick in asset management activity, particularly in the field of private assets
Another trend has been the growing number of Japanese firms seeking to expand outside their home market, either into southeast Asia or the US. “We’ve been intimately involved in helping those firms as they make that expansion,” says Gavin McFarland, global co-head of FIG. India is another focus, with several key deals in 2024 – including the sale of Kotak General Insurance to Zurich for $670 million, with Morgan Stanley the only western bank to act as a bookrunner.
Promoting partnerships
A key growth driver has been the uptick in asset management activity, particularly in the field of private assets. Eric Hopp, global co-head of financial sponsors, recently took over asset management coverage, working with David Heaton, chairman of the firm’s asset management investment banking business.
“Asset management is the area where we’ve seen the most cross-border activity in 2024,” notes Heaton. “We’ve probably advised around two-thirds of M&A in global asset management over the past five years.”
Notable trends in this space include traditional asset managers buying alternative managers – such as the $12 billion acquisition by BlackRock of global credit investment manager HPS in December 2024, where Morgan Stanley was one of just two advisers to BlackRock for the transaction. “We think that trend is going to continue, and we want to make sure we’re front and centre in those discussions,” says Heaton.
The convergence between public and private assets is another crucial pivot. “When we talk to asset managers around the world, the asset class they’re most interested in is either private credit or private real assets,” says Myers. “We do think there are going to be more partnerships between financial services lenders and private credit going forward.”
Insurance appetite
Insurance is the third pillar of the firm’s FIG profile, led by Robyn Maslynsky Goldschmid, a Morgan Stanley lifer with more than 20 years’ experience at the bank. “It continues to be an incredibly active sector,” she notes. “We’ve been lucky enough to advise on 31 of the largest 37 deals since 2021, and you’ll see a continuation of that in 2025.”
The Truist Insurance divestment was of course the flagship transaction of 2024, but numerous others also take the podium – including the bank’s role as lead active bookrunner to AG Gallagher on its $9.8 billion equity finance raise following its acquisition of AssuredPartners for $13.5 billion, which Morgan Stanley also advised on.
“That was the largest US acquisition-related equity follow-on offering ever – not just in insurance or financials but across the market,” notes Maslynsky Goldschmid. “And we did it over the weekend, plus one day of marketing. It was phenomenally well received.”
Morgan Stanley subsequently led the firm’s $4.6 billion debt offering, bringing over new investors from the equity side to the investment grade side to tighten the terms. “It was a fantastic example of happy clients on both sides of the deal.”
Fintech focus
The final focus for 2024 has been on fintech, with Morgan Stanley staking a claim for itself as the lead adviser for next-gen firms. “Financial services are being disrupted by tech across all sectors,” says McFarland. “Globally, we have a very strong partnership with our tech group, so we often go to market with joint tech and FIG coverage.”
This included two of the largest take-private transactions in 2024: with the firm acting as the sole adviser to AssetMark on its $2.7 billion sale to GTCR, and to Envestnet on its $4.5 billion sale to Bain Capital.
As a bank for financial institutions, Morgan Stanley’s goal is to play on a league of its own.
“We like to think we are without peer,” says Esposito. “It’s very difficult to achieve the global breadth, the balance sheet and the support that our team has. We deliver way beyond the traditional advisory service and, quite frankly, we feel that we do a better job than our competitors.”
