Eurazeo, the French private equity firm, said today it had tripled profits in the six months to June 30 from €97.3m ($118m) to €266m.

The private equity firm said results were helped by a €169.7m gain in the first half from the €2.4bn recapitalisation of satellite operator Eutelsat Communications, one of its key investments, which is due to be floated on the Paris Stock Exchange before the end of this year.