The UK chief executive of independent investment bank Lazard, Cyrus Kapadia, was the key adviser to software group Aveva on its $5bn acquisition of US Softbank-backed rival OSIsoft in one of the biggest deals involving a British company since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.

Kapadia, a technology specialist who was installed as Lazard's UK CEO in September last year, was one of two bankers on the deal, with the independent investment bank named as the sole adviser to Aveva. Keiran Wilson, a technology banker at the firm, was also on the transaction.