Economic prospects in Europe are noticeably improving. The new wave of virus infections since late fall 2020 led to tighter mobility restrictions, which delayed the European recovery. High frequency indicators suggest economic activity was down around 20% from normal over Q1.

Astorg is pleased to announce that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to become the new majority shareholder of Solina, the leading European manufacturer of ingredient and seasoning blends for the food industry, from Ardian. Solina's management will reinvest a significant part of their proceeds alongside Astorg.

Event-Driven strategies saw exciting developments in recent quarters, in a context where global M&A volumes saw the strongest start to the year ever. Global M&A volumes, close to USD 1.5 trillion year-to-date, were fueled by a flurry of U.S. acquisitions and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPAC”) mergers...

Société du Grand Paris came to the market with its first Green Bond in 2021. This May-46 €2bn 0.875% offering is the seventh transaction off their “Green Euro Medium Term note” programme, the first ever 100% Green EMTN ever created. Over 120 investors showed interest, with total demand surpassing €4.7bn (excl. JLM interest).

Despite the impact of COVID-19, emerging market green bond issuance totalled $40 billion in 2020. Underpinned by supportive market fundamentals, emerging market green bond issuance is expected to reach $100 billion by 2023. Since 2012, 43 emerging markets have issued green bonds, amounting to $226 billion in issuance