Four of the biggest deals of 2009 had at least one thing in common, according to Investment Dealers' Digest: Morgan Stanley.

In its recently released Deal of the Year Awards issue, the publication recognized the Firm in its tech, health care, private equity, and industrial categories. Highlights of each transaction follow.

Health Care Deal of the Year: Pfizer's $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Morgan Stanley acted as the lead financial advisor to Wyeth.

The transaction, struck amid severe credit-market dislocations in January 2009, "is the deal that almost wasn't," IDD editors wrote. Ultimately, the acquisition "showed the world that Wall Street was still open for business."

Institutional Securities Co-President Paul J. Taubman told IDD, "The thing that differentiates it is that this deal was negotiated while the financial world was falling apart. There were no clear metrics to use, since the world was changing so fast. To be able to achieve a full valuation and deal certainty and have the economics hold up so well a year after it was agreed, that's what is so differentiating."

Private Equity Deal of the Year: Warner Chilcott's $3.1 billion acquisition of Proctor & Gamble's global pharmaceuticals business. Morgan Stanley acted as one of two lead financial advisors to Warner Chilcott, which is publicly traded but majority-owned by private equity firms Bain Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners, CCMP Capital Advisors and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

The transaction may have revived the moribund leveraged loan and private-equity deal market amid the credit freeze and M&A slowdown of 2009, IDD said. "Fully committed financing" from Warner Chilcott was an important consideration for Proctor & Gamble, the editors noted.

Tech Deal of the Year: Amazon.com's $847 million acquisition of Zappos, the online footwear, apparel and accessories retailer. Morgan Stanley acted as exclusive financial advisor to Zappos on the transaction, which was "the largest ever completed in the online shopping space," IDD said. It was also the first and largest all-stock deal in Amazon's history, according to the deal team.

Industrial Deal of the Year: Ford's out-of-court debt restructuring and first equity capital raise in more than 40 years. Morgan Stanley acted as a joint bookrunner on the share sale.

While its two main rivals filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009, IDD noted, Ford revamped its balance sheet out of court, "reducing unsecured and secured debt and equitizing convertible securities - as part of an effort to slash debt obligations by $9.9 billion." Ford also raised $1.6 billion in the biggest U.S. industrial equity offering since October 2009, according to IDD.