Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs appear to be playing ping-pong with Sonera, the Finnish national telecoms carrier. The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications went to Merrill Lynch to sell a further E2bn ($1.94bn) of shares in Sonera this month, reducing its stake by 3.1% to 54.5%.

The deal means that Merrill has now lead-managed two issues of Sonera stock for the Finnish government, and Goldman has handled one. The field is now wide open for the next Sonera sale, which the Finnish government is keen to press ahead with.The government's stake in Sonera is worth E36bn, which makes a trade sale more likely than a return to the equity markets.