Morgan Stanley Joint Venture With MUFG Tops First-Half Japan M&A

Morgan Stanley was the top adviser for Japanese mergers and acquisitions in the first half of the year, which was marked by a sharp fall in deals.

16 deals with a combined value of over 12 billion dollars were advised by Morgan Stanley Securities. In the first half of the year, the total value of all deals involving Japanese companies was less than in the same period a year ago.

In a phone interview, Atsushi Tatsuguchi said that market conditions were tough. It was a reversal from a year earlier, when Japanese companies resumed deal-making after the Covid-19 outbreak.

The company is an investment banking joint venture with Morgan Stanley.

The largest deal in Japan in the first half was the acquisition of the company by KKR.

The second half of the year is expected to see a pickup in deal-making activities as uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment decreases.

He said it was unlikely that a slowdown in the first half of the year would last.