Morgan Stanley has pushed through Marks & Spencer's sale of its Brooks Brothers clothing stores for $525m (€597m) less than the UK clothing retailer paid for its flagship US retailing chain in 1988.

After months of on-off sales negotiations, Morgan Stanley has finally helped M&S over the last major hurdle in its worldwide disposal programme. Brooks Brothers was sold to Retail Brand Alliance, a privately held US retailer, for $225m in cash.