Listed French private equity group Eurazeo is poised to make its first new acquisition for four years after its chief financial officer revealed it had almost €1bn in cash available to deploy and had built a strong pipeline of potential investments.

Philippe Audouin, chief financial officer and executive board member at Eurazeo, said during a presentation of its fourth-quarter results today: "We have a very good pipeline of companies that we're currently studying, both new deals and bolt-on acquisitions for our existing portfolio companies."