Accumulating capital. Sociohistory of private equity in France, 1982-2017.

Summary This article shows how investment funds have become, between 1980 and today, a central pole of capital accumulation. It describes how the reconfiguration of the institutions of French capitalism has allowed the accumulation of profit by these new financial intermediaries. To do so, it questions the opposition between public and private actors, and highlights the modalities of cooperation between these actors in the co-production of the new institutional arrangement favorable to private equity. This article is based on the hitherto unexploited archives of the private equity industry association from 1984 to the present and on 12 interviews with former presidents of this association.