The pain the Japanese markets are going through was already present during last year's awards announcement in April 2008. Despite the pious hope expressed at the time that things would get better, the opposite has happened with the Nikkei index almost halving from 13,000 points to less than 8,000 today. Some important and exciting deals have been done nevertheless little can beat the drama of the securitisation of Shinsei Bank's headquarters days before its awful earnings were announced, or the last-minute investment in Morgan Stanley by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group MUFG. Here are the deals which achieved the most in the dangerous markets of 2008.
DEAL OF THE YEAR
Takeda Pharmaceuticals' $8.5 billion acquisition...