Carry on up

It seems things could be looking up for French private equity. We are only in the early months of 2008, a year which has been roundly touted as likely to be one of the toughest and most testing for the industry for some time, yet there has already been a resurgence of large LBO deals. We must hope that the purchase of retail chain BUT from Kesa Electricals for EUR550m by a consortium consisting of Colony Capital, Goldman Sachs and Merchant Equity Partners; the EUR225m buyout of Etanco by Industri Kapital; and Alpha's purchase of a 70% stake in Frial Groupe is the start of a proper resurgence rather than an anomaly