Sources at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter last week rejected suggestions that its had lost out on the mandate to lead the IPO of easyJet, the discount airline, as a result of the poor performance of lastminute.com since its March IPO.

EasyJet, which is headed by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the heir to a Greek shipping fortune, last week appointed Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and UBS Warburg as joint lead managers on its IPO. The sale is scheduled for the fourth quarter this year and could raise between £100m (&euro169m) and £150m. Market sources expressed surprise that Morgan Stanley, which had been widely seen as the frontrunner to win the deal, has fallen at the last post. Some press reports at the beginning of this year had said that Morgan Stanley had already been appointed to take easyJet public.