La Caixa, Spain's largest savings bank, has awarded Morgan Stanley a role on the €4bn ($5.4bn) flotation of its investments arm, propelling the Wall Street firm above local rivals to become the leading equity capital markets adviser in the country.

Catalonia-based La Caixa has hired Morgan Stanley and UBS to run the initial public offering of Criteria Caixa, its investments unit, on the Spanish stock exchange at the start of October.