BEST INVESTMENT BANKS

Global Finance, Jun 2005 by Platt, Gordon, Hawser, Anita, Green, Paula L

MEDIA S ENTERTAINMENT

Morgan Stanley

While Morgan Stanley and its dissident former executives have provided a soap opera of their own, the firm is the leading investment bank in the media and entertainment sector. Morgan Stanley advised Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in September 2004 on its $4.8 billion acquisition by an investor group including Sony. In January 2005 Morgan Stanley advised UnitedGlobalCom on its $3.6 billion merger with Liberty Media International, creating one of the largest broadband services companies outside the US. Also in January it advised Fox Entertainment on News Corps $6.9 billion bid to acquire the 18% stake it did not already own in the owner and operator of television stations.

HEALTH CARE

Lehman Brothers

The health-care industry has had more than its share of major mergers and acquisitions in the past 12 months, and Lehman Brothers has been involved in some of the biggest deals in the sector. In February 2005 Lehman Brothers advised Medco Health Solutions on its $2.5 billion agreement to acquire Memphis, Tennessee-based Accredo Health, which provides specialized pharmacy-contract services for chronic and high-cost diseases. In October 2004 Lehman Brothers advised Coventry Health Care on its $1.7 billion acquisition of First Health Group, an insurance agent and HMO. In May 2004 Lehman advised an investor group that acquired Iasis Healthcare in a $2 billion leveraged buyout. Tennessee-based Iasis owns and operates acute-care hospitals.

CONSUMER

UBS Investment Bank

UBS Investment Bank advised Gillette, a shaving products manufacturer, on its acquisition by Procter & Gamble earlier this year for $57.5 billion. P&G agreed to pay an 18% premium to purchase Boston-based Gillette, a well-known US brand that will expand its lead as the world's largest consumer-products company. Based in London, UBS Investment Bank, which was formerly known as UBS Warburg, employs more than 15,000 people in 31 countries. Its Switzerland-based parent, UBS, is Europe's largest bank. UBS forms close relationships with its clients and aims to become the global leader in investment banking by helping its corporate customers become global leaders in their industries.

TELECOM

Bear Stearns

As the telecom industry consolidates, Bear Stearns is picking up some hefty advisory fees. It advised Verizon Communications on its recent $8.5 billion acquisition of MCI. It also advised Bellevue, Washington-based Western Wireless in January 2005 and rendered a fairness opinion on the telecom's $5.9 billion acquisition by Alltel, in a stock-swap transaction that included the assumption of $1.5 billion in liabilities. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Alltel will be the fifth-largest wireless carrier in the US, with 10 million domestic wireless customers. Last November, Bear Stearns advised Verizon Wireless on its $3 billion acquisition of all of the PCS (personal communication system) licenses of bankrupt NextWave Telecom (now NextWave Wireless).

TECHNOLOGY

Silver Lake Partners

Menlo, California-based Silver Lake Partners put together a team of seven private equity firms in March 2005 to bid for SunGard Data Systems, which makes software for financial institutions, in an $11 billion leveraged buyout. The deal was the largest LBO since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought RJR Nabisco in 1989. Silver Lake Partners focuses its investment activities on market-leading technology companies and is the leading private equity firm dedicated exclusively to large-scale investments in this sector. In April 2005 the firm agreed to buy Instinet's institutional brokerage division at the same time that Nasdaq acquired Instinct to gain control of its electronic marketplace, INET. In July 2004 Silver Lake Partners announced a $500 million investment in Parisbased Thomson, its first direct investment in a European company. Thomson provides technology and services for integrated entertainment and media companies.