Underscoring Morgan Stanley's leading position in M&A and the capital markets in Japan, the Firm won several 2002 deal awards from regional finance magazines Asiamoney and Finance Asia.

Capping a year of significant transactions that saw Morgan Stanley ranked #1 by Thomson Financial in terms of completed mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies, the Firm was awarded the “M&A House of the Year (Japan)” from Asiamoney.

In Finance Asia's "2002 Japan Deals of the Year," the Firm was awarded "Best Domestic M&A Deal of the Year 2002" for its advisory role in a US$11.9bn merger of Kawasaki Steel and NKK to form JFE Holdings. As a result of a stock-for-stock exchange in September 2002, the newly-merged company became the fourth-largest steel company in the world in terms of crude steel output. The Firm advised Kawasaki Steel on the transaction.

Morgan Stanley's JPY200bn Samurai bond offering for GECC was awarded Finance Asia's "Best Samurai Bond Deal of the Year 2002." The issue, completed in June 2002, was the second-largest ever corporate Samurai offering and re-opened the market for these yen-denominated bonds issued by non-Japanese borrowers. Morgan Stanley served as a joint bookrunner for the offering, together with Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities.

"These awards reflect the outstanding work that was done by the M&A and capital markets teams on these transactions," said Jason Milazzo, Head of M&A and Co-Head of Investment Banking in Japan. "We are pleased that our pipeline for 2003 continues to be very strong with our ongoing involvement in a number of landmark transactions in Japan."

For further information, please contact Junichi Arai (3+542-7110) in Tokyo M&A on the M&A related awards, and Takaomi Tahara (3+542-7860) in Tokyo GCM on the Samurai Bond award.