Morgan Stanley goes one up against Goldman

In the first major M&A face-off of the year between the two bitter rivals, Morgan Stanley looks to be one up.

Steven Irvine

March 26, 2001

In the most significant Asian M&A deal of the year so far, SingTel appears to have outmanoeuvred Vodafone to buy Australia’s Optus. The $8.4 billion deal announced yesterday, will see SingTel gain a massive foothold in the Australian market and will further its ambitions to be a regional player.

It was advised on the deal by Morgan Stanley, which seems to have stolen the SingTel ‘house bank’ role from Goldman Sachs. Goldman, it will be recalled, advised SingTel on its bid for Hongkong Telecom last year. This bid failed when HKT’s shareholder, Cable & Wireless, chose to sell to Richard Li’s PCCW instead.

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