The French capital questioned its recovery
Weakened by the crisis, the French capital again to make headlines in the business press but professionals are questioning the sustainability of a recovery that dare not speak its name.
The uncertainties in the sector are also the prospect of entry into force of new rules that regulators want to impose the financial sector, whether the standards of solvency of banks and insurance and new tax regimes on capital gains and bonuses of investment funds.
The Forum's capital organized by Reuters of 8 to 10 September in Paris will provide an update on the new standards and expectations of the profession after the excesses of the years 2004-2007 and the bursting of the credit bubble.
According to data compiled by Thomson Reuters over the period from January 1 to September 7, the activity of private equity in France, measured by value is more than six times lower than it was in 2006, a report close to that observed globally.
The nascent recovery is still tangible: the activity is about 60% higher than it was in 2009.
"There is still a little early to give a real trend for the end of the year, although there is still a 'stock' of deals that can be done," said Vincent Ponsonnaille, a lawyer specializing in capital at Linklaters.
"Especially on small and mid-cap activity there," says his side OSSMANN Remy, vice president of the consulting firm LEK in France.
Selling Frozen Picard, the largest operation in France since the bankruptcy of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, however, showed that the billion euros was more impenetrable.
VIRTUOUS CIRCLE
But uncertainty over the economic environment and financial markets remain a brake, particularly in terms of IPOs (IPO).
"If the IPO market reopens for sizes and valuations fairly consistent, it is a bit of a virtuous circle for a variety of companies that are still in the portfolios," said Catherine Vincent, Chief Executive within the activity of investment bank Goldman Sachs in Paris.
Analysts said the IPO provided the chain of casinos Lucien Barriere will be a test.
But conversely, the withdrawal of the sale of fast food chain Quick or the retirement homes Medi-Partners also show that investors remain cautious.
"There is a fairly long list of transactions that have no takers, either for reasons of size or profile, for reasons of funding or pending award," notes Céline Méchain, director in charge of relationship with the investment fund at Goldman Sachs.
The continued funding of operations, moreover, remains uncertain because if the banks agreed to finance numerous records at the end of the first semester, they must organize now, that is to say, find investors interested in debt.
This process has also been launched on Monday by the banks in charge of LBO mounted for the redemption of Picard Frozen by Lion Capital.
"We can not consider access to the debt as an asset for the moment," he told Reuters late August Monique Cohen, managing partner of private equity group Apax.
NEW WAVE
The banks also require different ways to structure transactions so as to regain control faster business purchased by the funds in case of restructuring.
Because the crisis has shown the procedure to safeguard French was rather favorable to shareholders and creditors trying to turn faster debt capital.
The news of the capital since the outbreak of the crisis has been marked by restructuring banks that were very expensive to fund and precipitated the departure of certain officers.
In France, corporate restructuring or OMS Monier were characterized by such deadweight losses for the PAI, Sagard and Cognetas.
"We had a first wave of restructuring.By 2011, there could be a second for companies whose underlying economic activity is not to go and who only see their problem of excessive leverage, "says Catherine Vincent.
"2012 will be the first year where we will face a wall of refinancing," explained her side Céline Méchain.
"We'll see how some funds are recovering from their previous failures, particularly in the fundraising going and coming but for now there are many more records in 2009 rollover," said Olivier Tordjman, a lawyer with Ayache Salama.
"And if subjects remain restructuring, there is less risk of 'dead'," he says.