In a late summer trip over the English Channel, James Fletcher and Mike Grant recently visited Paris following successful placements of both Primary and Excess policies, to deepen Devonshire’s engagement with brokers across the French market. Our aim was to reinforce Devonshire’s support for Warranty & Indemnity, Tax, and Contingency cover, and to take the temperature of the market in person.
France’s M&A landscape in 2024 showed a mix of resilience and shift. Total M&A transaction value in France rose to approximately €128 billion, a ~10% increase year-on-year despite political uncertainty including snap elections and a sovereign credit downgrade. While the overall number of M&A deals fell (for example, during the first nine months of 2024 there were about 1,739 deals, roughly 30% fewer than in the same period in 2023), the growth in value underlines that larger and more strategic deals continued to close. Private equity buy-outs in particular more than doubled in value during 2024 versus 2023.
In the financial services sector, too, M&A activity showed remarkable upticks. In Q3 2024, for example, French financial services saw 13 announced deals worth about US$6 billion, a sharp increase vs the prior quarter. Meanwhile, transactional risk insurance globally also had a near-record year: Marsh reported placing US$67.8 billion in transactional risk insurance limits in 2024 (up ~38% year-on-year), covering over 2,750 policies, with nearly 1,600 unique transactions.
During our Paris meetings, what came across clearly was that brokers and deal parties are more frequently expecting insurers to offer transactional risk cover as a standard part of deal structuring. W&I, tax and contingency provisions are increasingly seen as tools to facilitate deal closure, reduce negotiation friction, and manage exposures in high-value deals. The data supports this: as deal values increase, buyers and sellers are more inclined to offload or share risk via insurance rather than relying purely on contractual protections.
Regulatory, legal, and cultural factors in France mean that underwriters must demonstrate strong local knowledge, clarity in policy wording, and an ability to respond quickly. The size of deals matters, but equally important is that policies are crafted to match the depth of due diligence buyers conduct in France. That means contingent risk in particular (e.g. liabilities that arise post-closing because of warranties, tax or other risks) is high on the agenda for deal teams and brokers.
Devonshire is well positioned in this environment. Our ability to provide both Primary and Excess layer cover, combined with expertise in W&I, tax insurance, and contingency risk, allows us to respond to what brokers are increasingly asking for. Our visit to Paris reinforced that while competition is strong, there is also genuine opportunity for underwriters who can deliver precision, speed, clarity, and local understanding.
Looking ahead, the trends suggest further growth in transactional risk insurance in France through 2025. As large-cap deals continue to close, private equity activity persists, financing conditions ease somewhat, and deal parties become ever more experienced, demand for high-quality transactional risk cover is likely only to increase.
We left Paris confident. France remains a core market for Devonshire’s European offering, especially for structuring deals that need strong risk protection.
Watch this space for more from Devonshire Goes Global, as we continue to build out our relationships, sharpen our propositions, and support deals across Europe with risk solutions that match the market’s growing sophistication.
