Think of Morgan Stanley, and the firm’s equity capital markets (ECM) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) businesses tend to come to mind. The debt capital markets practice is normally regarded by outsiders as the poor relation within the bank, all the more so in Europe, where relationship lenders have historically dominated the bookrunner tables in their home markets.
There can be little doubt that the picture has changed in the past year. Barely among the top 20 bookrunners for European debt in the year to September 2011, Morgan Stanley entered the top 10 by the start of September 2012, according to Dealogic data. For high-yield bonds, the bank was even up to fifth, ahead of European debt giants BNP Paribas and Barclays.
