A brief window has opened in the European equity capital markets, and banks have been pushing through block trades in a bid to beat the summer lull.

The eurozone summit at the end of June, where German chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to allow the injection of capital directly into struggling banks, has helped to ease market sentiment. Over the past two weeks, banks have managed large block trades in German industrial gas and engineering supplier Linde Group, chemical firm Brenntag, and Dutch financial services provider Delta Lloyd.