Morgan Stanley has received M&A, Debt and Equity 2003 Deal of the Year prizes from LatinFinance (registration required), the corporate finance magazine covering businesses in the region. LatinFinance cited the Firm for the following transactions:

• M&A Deal of the Year for its advisory role in Coca-Cola FEMSA's acquisition of Panamerican Beverages (Panamco) valued at US$3.6bn. This transaction represented the largest M&A transaction and the largest private financing transaction in Latin America in 2003, and the largest ever cross-border M&A transaction between two Latin American public companies. The combined company became the leading bottler of Coca-Cola products in Latin America, and the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world (after Coca-Cola Enterprises), representing approximately 10% of Coca-Cola's worldwide volume.
• Local Currency Corporate Bond of the Year for its structuring role in Coca-Cola FEMSA's highly successful peso bond offering of approximately $400mn as part of the financing for the acquisition of Panamco. Morgan Stanley designed a financing structure that provided the company with the flexibility needed to achieve the desired capital structure and the lowest cost financing.
• Hybrid Equity Deal of the Year for its role as sole bookrunner in the concurrent $210mn common stock offering and $150mn convertible notes offerings of NII Holdings Inc. NII, which is partially owned by Nextel Communications and has its corporate headquarters in Reston, Va., derives 100% of its revenue from wireless communications operations in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Peru. The offerings were noteworthy in that they were the first U.S. equity offerings by a Latin American telecommunications company since 2000, and they represented NII's capital markets debut less than one year after the company completed a reorganization under Chapter 11.

These landmark transactions highlight the strength of Morgan Stanley's franchise in Latin America and the breadth of capabilities that it brings to its clients.