Morgan Stanley is being credited with the most audacious “deal steal” seen in years by Hong Kong bankers after its last-minute snaffling of a $4.7bn placement Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse thought they had sewn up.
The snatched mandate catapulted Morgan Stanley to the top of Asian league tables this week, giving it sole credit for the private placement of shares in Ping An, while demoting Goldman and Credit Suisse to mere financial advisers.
By late Sunday morning Goldman and Credit Suisse bankers thought the deal was in the bag. Ping An had provisionally approved their selection of investors, a stage in the process one source described as “being at the altar and taking the ring out of your pocket”.