The boutique co-founded by the former co-chief executive of Lehman Brothers in Europe has bolstered its ranks to around 40, after acquiring a local corporate advisory firm and hiring a former Goldman Sachs managing director to focus on alternative forms of finance for Italian companies.

Pactum Advisers, which was co-founded in mid-2009 by Riccardo Banchetti, the co-head of Lehman's European business at the time of the firm's bankruptcy, and former colleague Antonio Miele, has set its sights on becoming the top mid-market investment bank in Italy, according to Banchetti.