The era of big tobacco deals more or less came to a close last summer with Imperial Tobacco’s €16.2bn (£12.95bn) acquisition of Spanish rival Altadis.

The deal, which came hard on the heels of Japan Tobacco’s £7.5bn approach for Gallaher, consolidated the Bristol-based company’s position as the world’s fourth largest cigarette maker and gave it control of Altadis’s cigar business.