It should be a happy reunion this week at an investor relations conference in Amsterdam when Menno de Jager, head of ECM at ABN Amro, and Matthew Westerman, co-head of ECM at Goldman Sachs, find themselves – perhaps, unexpectedly – sharing a platform to debate the added value of IR in raising capital.

Westerman used to be co-head of ABN Amro Rothschild with de Jager until he left to join Goldman in 2000.