From Pitchbook, November 12:
Short-term political turbulence is failing to deter interest in the country.
As members of the National Assembly spend long days and nights debating France’s budget during one of the country’s longest periods of political turmoil in recent history, many private market investors are holding back—but others see an opportunity in the long run.
French politics were thrown into disarray in June last year when President Emmanuel Macron called a snap parliamentary election after his rival Marine Le Pen’s National Rally claimed victory in the European Parliament poll. The result was a hung parliament between parties of the left, the far right and the center.
The 2026 budget is the latest battleground as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who took his post in September, struggles to push the bill through parliament. The chaos has resulted in credit rating agencies Fitch and S&P both downgrading France’s rating in September and October, citing uncertainty on public finances.
Fitch specifically noted that a “failure to pass a budget before year-end could trigger a period of ‘services votés’, during which no new discretionary consolidation measures could be implemented.”
The last of the big three ratings agencies, Moody’s, maintained France’s rating last month but revised its outlook to negative from stable, warning that increased political fragmentation could hinder the country’s effort to tame its deficit.
The loss of confidence from lenders has inevitably affected appetite among private market investors.
“Today, people don’t worry about who is being elected; they just want someone there to last more than three months,” said Cyril Boulignat, a Paris-based partner with law firm HSF Kramer who advises on PE investments....
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