Morgan Stanley was lead advisor to Comcast Corporation on its $72 billion acquisition of AT&T Broadband, making Comcast the biggest cable company in the world. In a series of the largest and most complex transactions of 2002, Morgan Stanley helped Comcast to secure $17 billion of bank and bridge loan financing, to execute a $12 billion debt exchange and consent (the largest in history), and to reach an agreement with AOL in unwinding the Time Warner Entertainment partnership.
CHINA TELECOM GOES GLOBAL
The largest global telecom IPO of 2002 took place in China: The US$1.5 billion offering of China Telecom was the cornerstone for China's restructuring of its telecom industry. Morgan Stanley, acting as joint bookrunner, helped China Telecom's IPO succeed amid challenging, volatile markets and investor sentiment about the telecom sector. The offering helped to transform China Telecom, increasing its public profile and securing access to the international capital markets to fund future growth.
ACCENTURE BROADENS ITS BASE
Morgan Stanley, which had acted as joint bookrunner for the Accenture IPO in 2001, acted as sole bookrunner for the $1.9 billion follow-on offering for the world's leading management consulting and technology services company. It was a landmark offering for the U.S. equity capital markets: one of the largest secondary issues priced in 2002 and the largest secondary ever for the services industry. The offering expanded Accenture's institutional and retail investor base.
AEGON RESTRUCTURES
Clients rely on Morgan Stanley to complete transactions that require the broadest global access to institutional investors. For AEGON, one of the world's largest listed insurance groups, Morgan Stanley served as joint bookrunner on a secondary offering of EUR3.5 billion that was part of a broad capital realignment of the company and its main shareholder, the AEGON Association. It was Europe's largest equity transaction of 2002 and the largest ever of its kind in the insurance sector.
JETBLUE TAKES OFF
In the face of a broad downturn in the airline sector, Morgan Stanley acted as sole bookrunner on the highly successful $182 million IPO for JetBlue Airways. Morgan Stanley helped the market differentiate JetBlue from the other airlines: Its low-cost strategy, high-brand awareness and customer loyalty made this an emerging growth opportunity. Investors responded with exceedingly strong interest that afforded the company a premium valuation.
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE'S PROPOSED MERGER WITH CRÉDIT LYONNAIS
Morgan Stanley is playing a major role in the current French banking consolidation. In Morgan Stanley's largest global M&A deal announced in 2002, the firm is acting as financial advisor to Crédit Agricole Group on its friendly US$16.7 billion takeover of Crédit Lyonnais. In 2001, Morgan Stanley had acted as joint lead manager in Crédit Agricole's EUR3.3 billion IPO.
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