Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Capital have picked up leading roles on the divestment of £5.9bn (€7.1bn) of assets by French energy group EDF, in what amounts to a landmark transaction for both banks. The mandates are a strong sign of the growing trend for lending banks to leverage their balance sheets to pick up advisory mandates.

RBS is sole adviser to the Eclipse First Consortium, the Hong Kong-based group of investors which won the auction to acquire EDF's power networks in south east England. While the corporate finance team at RBS have been involved in larger deals, it is the biggest transaction it has handled on its own.