21.03.2005 – 16:16

Institutional Investor

Hedge Funds Name Morgan Stanley Top Firm for European Equity Trading in Alpha Magazine

New York (ots/PRNewswire)

Traders at hedge funds surveyed about
the quality of European equity transactions rate Morgan Stanley best
at executing orders for pan-European equity trades, Alpha magazine's
March/April issue reports. The ranking is based on a retabulation of
Institutional Investor's survey of head traders at money management
firms investing in European equities; Alpha's ranking shows the
results when only hedge fund votes are counted. The survey asked
traders to rank brokerages according to their performance in various
aspects of European equity trading. UBS runs a close second for
pan-European equities execution and takes first place for
pan-European sales-trading. For U.K. equities alone, hedge funds give
Merrill Lynch top honors for execution and sales-trading.

Below are the brokerages most highly rated by head traders at
hedge funds for execution quality in all European equities, and in
U.K. shares only, along with their rank among all respondents.

    PAN-EUROPEAN EQUITIES                 U.K.-ONLY
    (including U.K.)                      EQUITIES
    Rank                                  Rank
    Hedge                                 Hedge
    funds     Overall     Firm            funds     Overall    Firm
    1         1           Morgan Stanley    1       1          Merrill Lynch
    2         2           UBS               2       2          UBS
    3         3           Citigroup         3       3          Citigroup
    4         6           Merrill Lynch     4       6          Dresdner
                                                                Kleinwort
                                                                Wasserstein
    5         4           Deutsche Bank     5       10         Cazenove(i)
    (i) Cazenove has merged its investment banking business with J.P.
        Morgan's U.K. investment banking operations in a joint venture known
        as J.P. Morgan Cazenove.

Below are the brokerages most highly rated by hedge fund traders
for the quality of their sales-trading in all European shares, and in
U.K. equities only, along with their rank among all respondents.

    PAN-EUROPEAN EQUITIES                   U.K.-ONLY
    (including U.K.)                        EQUITIES
    Rank                                    Rank
    Hedge                                   Hedge
    funds     Overall     Firm              funds    Overall   Firm
    1         1           UBS                 1      1         Merrill Lynch
    2         3           Citigroup           2      2         UBS
    3         2           Morgan Stanley      3      3         Citigroup
    4         4           Deutsche Bank       4      4         Credit Suisse
                                                                First Boston
    5         6           Merrill Lynch       5      6         Morgan Stanley

For more information please visit
http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/alpha.

Contact:
    Kim Lemmonds
    +1-212-224-3650
     klemmonds@institutionalinvestor.com

Web site: http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/alpha

Contact:

Kim Lemmonds of Institutional Investor, +1-212-224-3650,
klemmonds@institutionalinvestor.com