Morgan Stanley has capitalised on its relationship with Accenture, the US consultancy, by solely leading a $1.7bn (€1.5bn) share sale after Goldman Sachs dropped out of a secondary offering in 2002.

In May last year Goldman and Morgan Stanley were due to lead the consultancy's $1.9bn placing but Goldman pulled out as Accenture's share price fell sharply ahead of the sale. Goldman is one of the co-managers of the current offering alongside a huge syndicate of 19 other banks.