Morgan Stanley Japan received awards from Asiamoney, Euromoney and Thompson DealWatch for the Firm's achievements and transactions in 2003 and early 2004. These accolades follow awards earlier this year including IFR's "Asia-Pacific Equity Issue of the Year," Finance Asia's "Best Secondary Offering" and "Best IPO," the Nikkei's "Best Equity Finance Deal," as well as The Banker's "Best Country Deal."

Asiamoney awarded Morgan Stanley both the "Equity Deal of the Year" and "Bond Deal of the Year."

• The "Equity Deal of the Year" award was for the JPY155.4 bn NEC Electronics IPO, which Morgan Stanley lead managed together with Daiwa SMBC. This deal was the second largest IPO globally last year and the largest in Japan.
• The Firm received the "Bond Deal of the Year" award for the JPY85 bn inaugural bond issuance for GE Japan Funding K.K., which the Firm lead managed with Mitsubishi Securities and Nomura. Asiamoney noted that, "Not only was the deal expertly executed, but it is the first domestic yen bond issued by a Japanese subsidiary, which is also guaranteed by a foreign parent."

Morgan Stanley won the following five awards from Thomson Deal Watch :

• "Equity Issuer of the Year" for its role as joint global co-coordinator and joint global bookrunner for NEC's JPY194.1 bn global follow-on offering
• "IPO of the Year" for its role as joint global coordinator and global joint bookrunner for Shinsei Bank's JPY250 bn IPO
• "Equity-linked Bond Overseas Deal of the Year" for its role as sole-bookrunner for Nikon's JPY 34.5 bn convertible bonds offering
• "Straight Bond Debut of the Year" for its role in GE Japan Funding's JPY85 bn inaugural bond issue
• "Real Estate-backed Securities Deal of the Year" for its role in JLOC XI Limited's JPY35.1 bn commercial mortgage backed securities issue

Euromoney also recognized the achievements and leading position of the M&A team by giving Morgan Stanley the "Best M&A House in Asia (including Japan)" award.

"These awards reflect the extraordinary hard work and achievements of all involved in the successful execution of these deals and the strength of our Japan franchise," said Kensuke Hotta, Chairman of Morgan Stanley Japan Limited.