The International Finance Review recognized the Firm's Europe, Middle East and Africa equities business with three awards for 2008:

EMEA Equity House

Emerging EMEA Equity Issue - Safaricom

EMEA Structured Equity Issue - LaCaixa/Criteria CaixaCorp

"For ECM bankers, 2008 was a year where financial issuance was huge, and often testing," the editors wrote. "In Europe one bank was utterly dominant in terms of market share and was called upon by competitors at times of crisis."

The IFR cited Morgan Stanley's "unrivalled roster of key deals, resulting in a dramatic leap to the top of the European rankings" as deciding factors in making the awards.

As the editors noted, "Within this tough environment Morgan Stanley has managed to maintain a spread of deal types and market share unmatched by its rivals, and without having to rely on one or two large deals. While some asset classes gradually shut down in 2008, equity capital markets bankers went through a whole market cycle in one year, testing their ability to deliver all types of solutions. The spread of deals was such that the U.S. bank led the most important deals of the year without neglecting small deals."

The magazine listed five initial public offerings below US$500mn in value, three rights issues below US$200mn and five accelerated bookbuilds under US$200mn.

"The bank maintained a constant dialogue with the market by completing at least one deal every month through the 12 months in question, even when market conditions were inhospitable," said IFR editors. "As market volatility dipped in April before picking up again in early July, Morgan Stanley pumped out no fewer than 16 equity issues, including two of the most extraordinary IPOs of the year."

The IFR Annual Awards Dinner will take place on January 12, 2009 at the Grosvenor House in London.