Morgan Stanley tops 2018 Korea’s M&A advisory firm list

Morgan Stanley led South Korea’s merger advisory services market in 2018, accounting for 8.6 trillion won ($7.7 billion) worth of takeover deals, followed by J.P. Morgan which worked on 7 trillion M&A transactions, according to data compiled by the Korea Economic Daily and research firm FnGuide.

Morgan Stanley advised on four major acquisitions by South Korean companies, including CJ CheiJedang Corp.’s $1.84 billion purchase of US processed foods firm Schwan’s Company in November.

The US bank, of which managing director Sangwook Cho leads the investment banking division in Seoul, also handled the Carlyle Group’s $2.76 billion sale of ADT Caps, a securities service provider, to a SK Telecom-led consortium in the second quarter of this year.

Credit Suisse slipped to the fourth place from the top spot in 2017 when it advised 18.5 trillion won worth of acquisitions, including the 16.9 trillion won purchase by a SK Hynix Inc. of Toshiba Corporation’s memory chip unit.

Rankings of top 2018 M&A advisory firms in South Korea are as follows:



By Dong-hun Lee

leedh@hankyng.com

 Photo: Getty Images Bank