French GPs dodge bullet on foreign LP taxation

Although the new tax came to impact private equity indirectly and was not specifically targeting the industry, local practitioners were quick to predict a potential blacklisting of French GPs by international investors should the bill be added to the 2014 budget.

Local managers will understandably breathe a sigh of relief, as a recent study by trade body Afic and Grant Thornton further highlighted the importance of foreign LPs for French fundraising efforts.

According to the study, released last week, foreign LPs contributed to nearly half (48%) of French fundraising efforts in the first half of 2013. This is significantly up from the same period last year, when they only contributed to 27% of commitments in the wake of growing scepticism towards upcoming tax reforms and lacklustre macroeconomic indicators.

French GPs raised €3.6bn in H1 2013, according to the study. Although this looks like a spectacular increase from the €1.8bn recorded in the same period last year, a large part of the uptick came courtesy of Ardian closing its latest infrastructure vehicle on €1.5bn back in March.

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• Topics
• France
• Regulation
• LPs
• France
• AFIC