Pasta-maker Barilla's &euro1.8bn ($1.6bn) takeover of Kamps, the German baker, will go down as the great hostile battle that never was. That a protracted tussle was avoided at the 11th hour - actually around four in the morning - was partly due to the long-term relationship between Heiner Kamps, the entrepreneurial head of the eponymous baker, and one of Barilla's advisers, Altium Capital.

Altium's relationship stretches back years to when it helped Kamps structure his buy-out, backed by Apax Partners, Altium's former owner, in the early 1990s. The paths of Altium and Kamps have crossed several times since as Kamps has raised finance to fuel the acquisitions - well into double figures - that have seen it grow from a &euro300m company to the &euro2bn giant that Barilla bought.