China Buys Morgan Stanley (MS), Almost

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: December 19, 2007 8:01 am

Morgan Stanley (MS) posted a fourth-quarter loss after recording bigger-than-expected write-downs on assets hit by the credit crunch, and said it sold a $5 billion stake to China Investment Corp to boost capital.

The securities firm posted a net loss from continuing operations of $3.59 billion, or $3.61 a share, in the quarter ended November 30. A year earlier Morgan Stanley had income from continuing operations of $1.98 billion, or $1.87 a share. Morgan Stanley disclosed in November that it would be taking a charge of $3.7 billion because of losses in credit market investments. But the total for the quarter grew by an additional $5.7 billion, the earnings report showed. The $9.4 billion worth of writedowns reduced earnings by $5.80 per share in the fourth quarter.

According to Reuters net revenue was a negative $450 million, compared with $7.85 billion last year

The investment from China continues a trend of foreign sovereign funds buying into troubled US investment houses and banks Soon enough, many of the firms will have to relocate their headquarters to Beijing or Dubai.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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