French private equity in 2025: a 135 billion euro market in full change

A spectacular rebound in investments and exits

The year 2024 marked a decisive turning point for French Private Equity with 26 billion euros invested, i.e. a remarkable increase of 16% compared to 2023. This performance exceeds expectations in an uncertain economic context, demonstrating the resilience and attractiveness of the French market. These investments made it possible to finance 2,692 projects, illustrating the sector's capacity to support a broad spectrum of businesses.

Infrastructure confirms its status as a privileged sector with 10.9 billion euros invested in 2024, up 8%. This dynamic reflects the enthusiasm for energy transition and infrastructure digitalization projects, particularly in renewable energies and digital networks.

Investment outflows accelerated significantly with 12.8 billion euros in 2024, a substantial increase of 42% compared to 2023. This rebound in exits reflects the improvement of market conditions and the ability of funds to value their investments after several years of strategic support.

A revealing segmentation of market trends

Analysis by investment tickets reveals contrasting trends between segments. Transactions of more than 100 million euros exploded with an increase of 36% in value, confirming the appetite of investors for mega-deals in a volatile environment. These large-scale transactions mainly concern sector leaders offering increased visibility on cash flows.

The intermediate segments also showed sustained growth: +5% for tickets worth 15-50 million euros and +9% for tickets worth 50-100 million euros. This increase testifies to the vitality of the French middle market, which is particularly attractive for development capital strategies.

Buy-Out maintained its dominant position with 17.1 billion euros in investments, but it was innovation capital that recorded the strongest growth with +23% in 2024. This dynamic reflects the rise of the French tech ecosystem and the growing appetite for startups in the scale-up phase.

Sectoral breakdown: industry and technology in the lead

Industry is the leading investment sector with 26% of the amounts allocated, benefiting from reindustrialization policies and investments in Industry 4.0. This predominance illustrates the desire of the funds to support the digital and environmental transformation of the French productive system.

Technologies occupy the second position with 21% of investments, confirming the attractiveness of the sector despite the valuation corrections observed since 2022. Buoyant segments include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, and SaaS solutions for businesses.

Health maintains its position as a defensive sector with regular growth, benefiting from the aging population and the rise of digital health. Medical devices, home services and biotechnologies concentrate the bulk of sectoral investments.

Performance: confirmed outperformance against listed markets

French Private Equity delivers a net IRR over 10 years of 13.3%, i.e. 2.4 points above the CAC 40 reinvested dividends. This structural outperformance is explained by the ability of managers to create value through operational support for companies, financial optimization and external growth.

The dispersion of performances remains significant with the top 25% of managers posting a net IRR of 25.4% compared to -6.2% for the last quarterle. These differences highlight the critical importance of selecting managers and their sectoral expertise in creating value.

Illiquidity is the counterpart to this outperformance, with an average holding period of 7 to 10 years. This characteristic requires a long-term asset approach but in return offers a valuable decorrelation with listed markets, particularly in phases of high volatility.

The emergence of ESG criteria as a differentiating factor

The integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria is accelerating in the French Private Equity ecosystem. According to the Invest Europe 2024 study, 77% of European asset management companies now include ESG issues in their investment decisions. In France, this proportion reaches 84% for managers deemed “excellent” or “good” in their ESG approach.

Climate criteria are becoming increasingly important with 47% of French managers integrating climate change into their ESG policies, compared to 34% in 2021. This evolution reflects growing regulatory constraints (SFDR, European taxonomy) and the expectations of institutional investors.

The impact on performance is positive: companies that effectively integrate ESG criteria show greater resilience and optimized operational costs. This correlation between sustainability and financial performance constitutes a lasting competitive advantage for specialized funds.

Conclusion: a mature and dynamic ecosystem

French Private Equity demonstrates its maturity and its ability to adapt in a complex economic environment. With 135 billion euros in assets under management and performances superior to listed markets, it is establishing itself as a pillar of financing the French economy. The increasing integration of ESG criteria

‍