President François Hollande’s election victory in June came amid one of the worst quarters for private equity deals in France for three years. Compared with the same period last year, the value of deals between April and June plunged almost 90%, the worst second-quarter figure since 2009. These would have been even worse but for one deal accounting in value for 60% of the total.

This year's second-quarter total came to $883m across 39 deals compared with $8.9bn across 56 transactions last year, according to data provider Dealogic. The second quarter was saved by two big deals: the $536m buyout of spreads-maker St Hubert from trade seller Dairy Crest by UK private equity firm Montagu Private Equity in June; and Vector Capital's $119m acquisition of film services company Technicolor in May.