Only a few years ago the Zaoui brothers were riding high. It was 2014 and Zaoui & Co, the M&A boutique founded by the French duo, had worked on some of the most high-profile deals in Europe — the $8.2bn merger between L’Oreal and Nestlé and a multibillion recapitalisation at French carmaker Peugeot. The pair were even featured in the French edition of Vanity Fair.

Fast forward to today, however, and the Zaouis have been notable by their absence. So far this year, Zaoui & Co has featured on just a single deal — Generali’s majority investment in Sycomore Asset Management for an undisclosed fee unveiled earlier this month. Before that, the last transaction it was named on, the £2.7bn acquisition of UK laundry group Berendsen by French rival Elis, was announced in June 2017, according to Zaoui & Co’s website.