Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has landed a lead advisory role as two leading French banks take up more than €5bn (£4.5bn) worth of state aid, in a deal that closed yesterday (11 December).

The Wall Street firm acted for European banking giant BNP Paribas and France’s largest retail bank Credit Agricole as they issued €2.55bn (£2.28bn) and €3bn (£2.7bn) worth of securities respectively.