Morgan Stanley Employee Mistakenly Sends Email, Leaking List of Over 100 Potential Asian Investment Banking Deals

September 24, according to Bloomberg, a Morgan Stanley employee mistakenly sent internal documents via email to some clients this week, inadvertently leaking a list of over 100 Asian investment banking deals the bank is pursuing or tracking.

The documents cover IPO candidate projects in China, South Korea, India, and other locations, and also include private equity funds and pension institutions involved in related companies, as well as some suspended projects. The list also involves deals in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with some information containing highly sensitive pricing details.

According to people familiar with the matter, Mohamed Atmani, head of Morgan Stanley's Asia-Pacific financial sponsors division, had intended to send a client-facing version but mistakenly sent the internal version, and subsequently attempted to recall the email. Morgan Stanley said the company attaches great importance to client information confidentiality and has quickly taken measures to handle this accidental information-sharing incident.

This incident exposed the high sensitivity of investment banking operations to deal information confidentiality. Morgan Stanley has in recent years been one of the major underwriters in Hong Kong stock offerings and the Asian M&A market, and it is not yet clear whether the relevant clients and deal parties have raised inquiries with the bank regarding the information leak.