Jefferies, the US-headquartered investment bank, has been increasing its footprint across continental Europe, where it now has offices in Sweden, Benelux, Germany, Spain, Italy and France. A measure of its success in France was its role as sole placement agent for battery maker Verkor in a €850m private equity raising, the largest ever for a French start-up.
“Jefferies decided to meaningfully expand in France three years ago,” says Arnaud Fornas, the bank’s head of France investment banking advisory. “Today we have around 45 Paris-based bankers, half of them trading floor professionals and the other half investment bankers.”