Alessandro Rombelli, a banker at JP Morgan, was the most active mergers and acquisitions adviser by number of deals for the first half of 2002, according to figures from intelligence provider mergermarket.com.

All five deals by Rombelli - who is a London-based managing director specialising in financial institutions - were in Italy, and were worth a combined €4bn ($4bn). JP Morgan was also the most active firm by number of deals done, with 67 transactions totalling €76bn.