Morgan Stanley is to fight a jury verdict that will force it to pay Ronald Perelman, the billionaire financier, a total of more than $1.4bn (€1.1bn) in damages for its role in Perelman's 1998 sale of his Coleman camping gear company to Sunbeam Corporation.

The jury in Florida deliberated for nearly four hours last night before deciding on $850m in punitive damages. Earlier this week the same jury awarded Perelman compensatory damages of $604.3m.