Morgan Stanley leaked 100 Asia deals into Hong Kong's richest quarter ever
A missent attachment gave rival bankers Morgan Stanley's Asia pipeline in the same quarter Hong Kong printed a record $47.5 billion of fundraising. The issuers named are "extremely unhappy"; the mandates, so far, are holding.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
One attachment, every desk in Central
On Tuesday afternoon, Mohamed Atmani, Morgan Stanley's Asia-Pacific head of financial sponsors, attached the wrong file to his weekly update email: the group's internal deal pipeline, dated 21 September 12. It named more than 100 deals and the companies and institutional investors behind them, across Greater China, India, South Korea, Australia and South Asia 3. The banker later retracted the email and apologised, urging recipients to delete it 1.
That was already too late. "Almost every banker in Central got hold of this list," a source told the South China Morning Post, and a blurred copy reached Instagram 23. "The companies on the list are of course extremely unhappy about the leak," the source said 3. "It is obviously a fat-finger error, but the result is disastrous," said Tom Chan, honorary president of the Institute of Securities Dealers 3.
The map was of a record market
The file described the richest deal market Hong Kong has ever printed: a record $47.5 billion of IPOs, placements and block trades from July to September, lifting 2026 past $92 billion and within reach of 2021's $112.5 billion record 45. Morgan Stanley ranked second among Hong Kong bookrunners in the first half, 19 deals worth $4.7 billion 3. The No. 2 in that league table just handed every rival the map.
One quarter's fundraising ran to 42% of the 2021 record year
Data
| Hong Kong fundraising | |
|---|---|
| 2021 full year | $112.5B |
| 2026 to end-Sept | $92B |
| 2026 Q3 alone | $47.5B |
The fees now sit in winning mandates
Only two of Hong Kong's ten largest offerings since July trade above their offer price, and the 10-year Treasury yield sat at 5.171 percent as rate-hike expectations hardened 46. With the aftermarket this thin and money this dear, fees concentrate in winning mandates rather than trading them, and mandates begin as pitches: more than 50 entries on the list were tagged "pitching", against about 60 live 1.
Who gains, who pays
Rival originators gain the most: free clues to the sectors, sponsors and issuers Morgan Stanley is chasing 2, and one banker's stated use for the file was checking which deals his firm had missed 7. The payers are the private equity and venture firms behind the vast majority of the list, whose exit intentions went public before any process launched 1, and the bank's own Asia fee line.
The file held names, not terms
Live mandates were the minority of what leaked
Data
| Part | Deals on the list | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Live deals | 60 | 42.9% |
| Pitching | 50 | 35.7% |
| On hold | 30 | 21.4% |
The attachment carried no deal terms, and recipients told reporters much of it was already known 1. Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, without naming the bank, said intermediaries need "robust internal controls" to prevent data leakage 3. Buy-side clients working with Morgan Stanley said they are not reconsidering mandates, and one banker said the leak was unlikely to fundamentally damage trust 7. No enforcement action had been announced, and there was no public evidence of improper trading 2.
What prices the damage next
The pipeline stays full: Jio Platforms is expected to debut in November, Mynt has priced what is set to be the Philippines' largest-ever IPO and Firmus Grid's $5 billion listing is coming in Australia 45. The position: trim the Asia fee expectation into the year-end print, and let the fourth quarter argue otherwise on four readings: Hong Kong's fundraising tally, Morgan Stanley's Asia revenue, any SFC move, and whether Atmani keeps his seat, which the bank has not disclosed 2. The map is already out.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
