Estates, Business Sales: France on the Verge of a €9,000 Billion Wealth Transfer
By 2040, nearly 9,000 billion euros in assets will change hands in France, and hundreds of thousands of businesses will be sold over the next decade. Two players in the wealth management sector—the multi-family office Zeus Invest and the Finzzle Group—are sounding the alarm about the scale of this trend. They also highlight the lack of preparation among those most affected, starting with the executives who will be selling their companies.
The scale of these figures is staggering. By 2040, nearly 9,000 billion euros in assets will be transferred in France, and 370,000 businesses are expected to change hands by 2030, according to a press release from the multi-family office Zeus Invest. The wealth management consulting group Finzzle looks a little further ahead and reaches a similar conclusion: by 2035, nearly 500,000 businesses, representing approximately 3 million jobs, are expected to be sold when their owners retire. The demographics leave little room for doubt. According to Bpifrance data cited by Finzzle, 25% of business owners are now over 60, and one in ten is over 65.
This “major transfer” primarily affects the families involved, but not exclusively. It will shift a considerable amount of savings toward financial investments and put the entire advisory ecosystem—from notaries to wealth management advisors (CGP)—to the test. For individuals, it serves as a reminder of a basic rule: estate planning must be done in advance. In a direct line of descent, each parent can transfer 100,000 euros to each child every fifteen years without paying inheritance tax. Beyond that, the tax rate increases in increments, reaching up to 45% for the largest estates. Giving early—and in installments—is therefore often much less expensive than bequeathing everything at once.
Business Leaders Turned Investors Overnight
For business leaders, the stakes go beyond taxation. Philippe Lauzeral, president of the Finzzle Group, points out a blind spot: hundreds of thousands of business owners will receive a significant lump sum in a matter of months, without ever having managed a financial portfolio. Their wealth was concentrated in an asset they knew inside and out—their company. That wealth suddenly becomes liquid, requiring them to navigate concepts that are new to them: diversification, asset allocation, investment horizon, and liquidity. “The system facilitated the sale of these businesses. It didn’t structure what comes next,” he summarizes.
The issue is all the more sensitive because this capital often serves as a substitute for a retirement pension. For self-employed workers, pensions are rarely sufficient to maintain their previous standard of living: the proceeds from the sale must therefore generate a steady income for twenty or thirty years. However, as Finzzle observes, sellers prioritize tax considerations above all else. The Dutreil Pact, which reduces tax liabilities when transferring a family business, and the reinvestment of proceeds from the sale—which allows for the deferral of capital gains tax provided the funds are reinvested—are useful tools. Used in isolation, however, they encourage investing too quickly, under tax or commercial pressure, and lead to an overemphasis on assets that are difficult to resell. Philippe Lauzeral’s advice can be summed up in one sentence: be willing to wait before investing, first secure a solid income base, and then invest gradually. “Poorly structured capital doesn’t protect—it exposes you,” he warns.
Multi-family offices on the front lines
This trend is also reshaping the profession of those who advise high-net-worth individuals. A family office is a private entity dedicated to managing the interests of a single wealthy family: investments, real estate, tax planning, and sometimes philanthropy. A multi-family office pools these services among several families, making this type of support accessible to those with less substantial wealth—typically entrepreneurs following a business sale.
For Zeus Invest, founded by Kevin Lajus, this major shift will profoundly transform the role of wealth management advisors, whose work can no longer be limited to selecting investments. Wealth portfolios are becoming increasingly complex, combining business interests, real estate, and financial assets, and the press release also examines the role of artificial intelligence, which is presented as a tool to enhance wealth analysis, not as a substitute for human expertise.
Then there’s the timeline. A business sale takes several years to prepare, and the 370,000 business transfers predicted by Zeus Invest by 2030 leave little time for those who fall behind. Finzzle emphasizes this point: the most costly mistakes are made in the first few months after the sale—precisely when there’s no need to rush.
