In a year in which Google dominated headlines and renewed interest in the Internet sector, Morgan Stanley remained the top bank on Forbes' “Midas List” — an annual ranking of the top bankers, venture capitalists, lawyers and recruiters in the information technology and life sciences sectors. Investment Banking Division Managing Director Michael Grimes moved up one place from last year to fifth overall. IBD Managing Directors Paul Chamberlain and Charles Cory made the list as well. Access the list.

The February 14 edition of the bi-weekly business publication hailed the importance of the Morgan Stanley-led Google offering for the industry: “You cannot talk about venture capital's comeback performance in 2004 or print a list of technology's top 50 dealmakers without talking about Google.”

Morgan Stanley was the only investment bank to have three bankers on the list. Forbes named Grimes the “Valley's top new-issue banker” and highlighted his work on deals including: Agilent, Extreme, SanDisk Seagate and VeriSign. Chamberlain's work on the U.S. offering for Chinese firm 51job caught the attention of Forbes editors as “one of the top tech new issues of 2004.”

"Morgan Stanley's technology franchise continues to receive its due recognition by working on landmark and industry-defining transactions," said Managing Director Dhiren Shah, Global Head of Technology Group for IBD.

In determining the rankings, Forbes surveyed more than 800 professionals and looked at the market capitalizations of venture-backed companies on the close of their first day of trading or the purchase price in an acquisition. The change in value of each investment since going public or being sold, as well as the candidate's length of involvement and influence with a startup, were also considered.