François Barbier joined 21 Invest France since inception, took part in the deployment of the four historical funds and was given the responsibility to invest the fifth generation of funds. In 2017, his appointment as Deputy General Manager had been decided in order to prepare a smooth succession with Gérard Pluvinet. The latter will now sit on the Supervisory Board of the French management company alongside Alessandro Benetton and nine business personalities.

Since the end of the fundraising in November 2018, four new investments have been completed, of which three primary transactions, perfectly in line with the fund's strategy: ProductLife Group, outsourcing services for pharmaceutical laboratories, FMA Assurances, wholesale insurance broker, LV Overseas, freight forwarding specialist and Landanger, the French leader in reusable surgical instruments, which is scheduled to be closed in early July.

As for software developer DL Software, the fund's first investment, it has shown excellent performance since its acquisition with 34% growth in Ebitda, thanks to strong organic growth and three build-ups.

With its renewed organization, 21 Invest France will keep supporting management teams in the realization of ambitious growth projects, thanks to its proven know-how in companies transformation, market consolidation (over 130 build-ups) and its expertise in internationalization strategy (Fund IV companies which had international ambitions tripled their revenues abroad).

Four to five additional investments are expected for Fund V over the next two years.