After a year of winning "blockbuster mandates" and offering the "most anticipated IPO deals in recent memory," Morgan Stanley took 2004 Equity House of the Year honors in International Financing Review's Annual Awards announced on December 18. The Firm also garnered accolades as the year's top U.S. equity house and U.S. structured equity house.

In reporting the awards, IFR also cited the Firm’s innovative approach to capital markets, specifically the July 2002 merger of the Firm’s equity, convertible debt and leveraged finance capital markets groups. IFR noted that since then, industry rivals Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan have made the similar moves.

“If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Morgan Stanley should be the envy of Wall Street,” the article noted, citing that across all regions, the Firm led many benchmark deals. IFR went on to highlight that 2004 saw Morgan Stanley build on its "traditional expertise" in marketed offerings by showing itself "able to take decisions on large amounts of risk quicker than many of its competitors."

In explaining the effect of the reorganization, Mark Hantho, Head of U.S. coverage for Global Capital Markets, was quoted as saying that: "The vision is to have the client feel that there is virtually one point of contact, and that their objectives are seamlessly shared across the bank."

Morgan Stanley also played a role in several other winning categories, including:

• European Equity Issue of the Year: €7.5bn (US$10bn) Enel
• EEMEA Emerging Market Bond of the Year: $1.25bn Gazprom bond
• Global IPO of the Year: Dex Media $1bn offering
• U.S. Equity Issue of the Year: $1.5bn General Mills
• North American Securitization of the Year: $418mn Global Signal Trust