Fresh evidence this morning that an expected blackballing of Goldman Sachs by European governments might have been wide of the mark.

The Wall Street giant has popped up on two of the largest investment banking mandates of the year: it is advising French utility GDF on its merger with UK rival International Power, valued at around £14bn (€16.8bn); and it is one of three managers on the flotation of Italian utilities green energy business, which could raise as much as €4bn ($5.26bn).