Mergers and acquisitions bankers feeling the pressure from another quarter in which fees from advisory represented a minimal proportion of total revenues are breathing a sigh of relief this week after a flood of big ticket mergers promised to keep them busy for some time to come.

Since Monday British engineering group Tomkins has received a $4.6bn (€3.6bn) approach from Canadian investors Onex and Ontario Teachers, UK consumer group SSL has received a $3.9bn acquisition from Reckitt Benckiser and UK utility International Power has revisited merger talks with French peer GDF Suez in a deal worth around $10bn.