Bankers waiting for the mega deals of 2015 to continue into the new year did not have to wait long. Despite market turmoil, several big-ticket bids have been made, none bigger than the $48 billion offer from China National Chemical Corporation, or ChemChina, for Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta in early February.

For bankers at HSBC, which is advising the acquirer, the wait to be working on such a deal had been rather longer. The Syngenta bid is the largest M&A advisory mandate the UK bank has won since it acted for Suez on its $54.6 billion takeover of Gaz de France a decade ago.