Private Equity Market in France

• What trends are you seeing in overall activity levels for private equity firm buyouts and investments in your country during the past year or so?
• Looking at types of investments and transactions, are private equity firms continuing to pursue straight buyouts or are other opportunities, such as minority-stake investments, partnerships or joint ventures, also being considered?
• What were the recent keynote deals? And what made them stand out?
• Does private equity M&A tend to be cross-border? What are some of the typical challenges legal advisers in your jurisdiction face in a multi-jurisdictional deal? Are those challenges evolving?
• What are the current themes and practices in financing for transactions? Have there been any notable developments in the availability of debt financing or the terms of financing for buyers over the past year or so?
• How has the legal and policy landscape changed during the past few years in your country?
• What are the attitudes to private equity among policymakers and the public? Has there been any noteworthy resistance to private equity buyouts by target boards or shareholders? Does shareholder activism play a significant role in your country, and if so, how has it impacted private equity M&A?
• What levels of exit activity have you been seeing? Which exit route is the most common? Which exits have caught your eye recently, and why?
• Looking at funds and fundraising, does the market currently favour investors or sponsors? What are fundraising levels like now relative to the past few years?
• Talk us through a typical fundraising. What are the timelines, structures, and the key contractual points? What are the most significant legal issues specific to your country?
• How closely are private equity sponsors supervised in your country? Does this supervision impact the day-to-day business?
• What effects has the AIFMD had on fundraising in your jurisdiction?
• What are the major tax issues that private equity faces in your jurisdiction? How is carried interest taxed? Do you see the current treatment changing?
• Looking ahead, what can we expect? What will be the main themes in the next 12 months for both private equity M&A and fundraising?

Read the interview here.