Morgan Stanley and MUFG
For an example of a joint venture partnership that has been effective, resilient and performed well, one need only look at the tie-up between US bank Morgan Stanley and Japan’s MUFG.
The JV comprises Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities (MUMSS), which operates under Japan’s largest financial group, and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities (MSMS), which is a foreign-capitalised securities house. The investment banking functions sit under MUMSS, but both the arms have their own separate global capital markets, sales and trading and research functions in order to leverage each other’s strengths for the growth of the combined business.
The model has all the ingredients for success, earning it the Asiamoney award for best corporate and investment bank for 2021.
The investment banking team identified key areas of focus in 2021: large corporations which want to transform their business portfolios and undertake capital reallocation to improve efficiency; clients who want to divest non-core assets; struggling firms which need to shore up their balance sheets in order to survive; and the growing group of startup unicorns.
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