PE performance: France hot on UK's heels

The study, conducted in partnership with EY and Thomson Reuters, also shows French funds have generated 1.37x money since inception, a figure that rises to 1.88x (14.5%) for fully-realised vehicles.

The 10-year performance of French private equity vehicles also fares well when compared with other asset classes: funds returned 10.7% in the 10 years to the end of 2013, against 7.2% for real estate and 5.6% for the CAC 40, according to the study.

Buyout funds are unsurprisingly the best performers, with a 16.1% net IRR over 10 years, while generalist funds and growth capital vehicles have returned 8.7% and 5% respectively. Venture fund performance remains poor at 0.3% – although this is up from the negative IRR (-0.8%) measured at the end of 2012.

France's performance is in line with the European average (9.2%) when looking at IRR since inception. Local GPs still significantly outperform German players (5.6% net IRR since inception) but remain one step behind their UK counterparts (11.4% IRR).

Although useful to easily compare fund performance between players and geographies, IRR is increasingly being challenged by LPs and academics alike – read our analysis here.

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