Goldman Sachs secured the top spot in European equity capital markets for the first quarter, as the US bank's traditional strength in accelerated book builds - which make up more than half of all activity in the first three months of the year - helped it to claim the number one ranking.

In Europe, the US bank has a 14.3% market share, ahead of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in second and Deutsche Bank in third. That the US bank managed top spot without even featuring in the top ten in the initial public offering and equity linked table tells its own story of equity market activity in Europe.