Jean-Marie Messier, the former chairman and chief executive of Vivendi Universal who set up his own M&A advisory boutique last year, has won his first advisory mandate.

According to bankers in Paris, Messier is advising the management of Banque Arjil, a Paris-based investment bank, which is being sold by Lagardère, its leading shareholder. Arjil specialises in mergers and acquisitions advice for small private companies, and a sale timetable has yet to be agreed. Messier Partners does not comment on its policies to the press.