Flashes of hope spark blaze of equity block trades

This week was supposed to be all about IPOs in the European equity capital market, with the pricing of a string of deals, above all the highly successful €4.25bn privatisation of Aena, the Spanish airports operator. But a carnival of block trades on Thursday stole the show, as sellers from British Telecom to Silvio Berlusconi pounced on a rising market, either to lock in recent gains opportunistically or to further strategic business needs. Jon Hay reports.