En garde ..

All seems well in the world of fundraising with Advent International closing its sixth global buyout fund GPE VI on its hard cap of EUR6.6bn. LPs are obviously still very keen to invest since the fund oversubscribed with LPs wanting to invest more than EUR10bn. Newcomer Fondations Capital, launched in 2007, has begun to stir its head and after four new recruitments to their investment team the private equity house held a EUR300m first close of its maiden fund.

This month saw the AFIC Capital Investment conference take place in Paris which seems to have served as a symbolic catalyst for the launch of a number of FCPI funds. The highlight of the conference was French minister of finance Christine Lagarde's speech urging private equity to heed her call for greater investment in SME's and challenging private equity by stating that 'the ball is in your court'. It seems private equity may have pre-empted her wishes since at least four FCPI funds were announced soon after the conference. The government incentives lay in a 2007 law known as the TEPA Act designed to promote employment and purchasing power. The TEPA Act enables FCPI funds to offer customers (usually high net worth individuals) the opportunity to cut their wealth tax and income tax liability. The total tax break can be as much as 40% of the amount invested. Natexis followed by Credit Agricole both launched two innovation funds each via their private equity subsidies.

The AFIC Capital Investment conference provided an insightful view into the previous year's happenings and offered a positive and combative outlook for the current year. On a personal note it was very interesting meeting a number of France unquote readers at the conference and I look forward to meeting many of you again soon.

Yours sincerely

Francois Rowell

Editor, France unquote"

Tel: +44 20 7004 7524

francois.rowell@incisivemedia.com.

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