When Bidhi Bhoma became CEO of Liberum in December 2020, he took the reins from its founder, Shane Le Prevost, who had steered the company for 13 years.

Bhoma was always expecting to have big shoes to fill, but the past three years have presented “a perfect storm” of challenges, he says. He led the investment bank through the bulk of the pandemic, which was swiftly followed by 2021’s record year for capital markets and M&A. That put pressure on dealmaking teams across the City, but then came a deep, prolonged slump in equity transactions, which heaped further pain on brokers.