JPMorgan Cazenove, the UK investment bank, is relying on capital raising by large companies to power its profits in 2009 as revenues from advising on mergers and trading equities come under pressure.

The bank said Wednesday it had made a strong start to the year with leading roles in the £12.5bn ($17.6bn) rights issue from HSBC and on the offering by Xstrata, the mining group that is raising £4.1bn from shareholders. The rush of share issues has been matched by an active market for corporate bonds.