Acting quickly was vital for Deutsche Bank to enable its private equity client to lower its holdings in a leading electrical supplier without unleashing sustained pressure on the share price.

The eurozone is now on the mend, according to BNP Paribas’ Frederic Janbon, but the new regulatory landscape will continue to change the debt business, bringing opportunities as well as challenges.

When Natixis sought to unwind its exposure to structured credit correlation and counterparty risks, it needed an independent adviser that could combine complex valuation skills with a merger and acquisition process. Moelis fitted the bill.

Christophe Mianné, the new deputy of Société Générale’s corporate and investment banking operation, is targeting a change in mindset as much as a change in structure.

Thus far, 2012 has witnessed a marked trend of corporates eschewing bank lending and turning instead to the debt capital markets. By acting quickly, the DCM team at SGCIB has put itself at the forefront of many of these deals.

When the Macquarie and Eiffage consortium, Eiffarie, won a controlling stake in APRR, the highly leveraged French motorway company, Eiffarie knew it needed to gain quick access to the market to refinance APRR's loans. Eiffarie's team established a €6bn euro medium term note programme, and then in mid-November 2011 decided to return to the market with a €500m four-year deal to help repay its outstanding acquisition loan. The result defied even the most optimistic expectations.

Keeping Greece in and allowing massive European Central Bank intervention are the best ingredients for saving the eurozone. But the case for common eurozone bonds is less clear.

French giant Crédit Agricole has been buffeted by speculation surrounding the fate of the eurozone, but CEO Jean-Paul Chifflet explains how the right combination of international expansion and domestic branch network has kept the bank well positioned.