One evening in July, Lazard banker Mat-thieu Pigasse was in Congo's capital city of Brazzaville trying to catch the last ferry across the Congo River for meetings in Kinshasa. In September, Lazard announced that Pigasse-who has advised on some of France's biggest deals, including the $50 billion utility merger that created GDF Suez in 2008-will head a team that now numbers a dozen bankers dedicated to mergers in the region. "It is the new frontier," says Pigasse. "The potential of the M&A market will be big in the coming years." Banks including Citigroup, Barclays, and Standard Chartered also are expanding their presence in Africa.
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