Heads of M&A and corporate finance in Europe this year are reassessing their strategic priorities and where they should invest resources. This is not proving easy, but there are signs of a revival for old economy banking.

Last year the dominant technology, media and telecoms (TMT) themes were very clear. But this year so far has been a mixed bag with a paucity of big telecoms deals, and a diverse range of activity in financial institutions, utilities and consumer products. Piers de Montfort, head of UK M&A at Morgan Stanley, says: 'There has been less concentration of activity in any one sector than we have seen in recent years.'