Mergers and acquisitions bankers in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Wall Street may be celebrating the best start to a year in a decade for global M&A, but their counterparts in London, Frankfurt and Paris will be feeling more depressed than ever.

As Financial News reported yesterday, global M&A volumes - as of 11 January - were at their highest year-to-date level since 2000 and 79% up on the same period last year.