Debtwire counts 39 French H1 2026 restructuring mandates as lenders take ownership

Debtwire counted 39 restructuring mandates in France in the first half of 2026, covering €14.57bn of debt, and frames the period as one in which lenders took ownership.

Spread across those 39 mandates, the €14.57bn works out to roughly €374m of debt per mandate on average. That figure is a calculation from the two numbers Debtwire published, not a disclosed deal size; the coverage does not break out what any single mandate carried.

Alvarez & Marsal ties lenders' stronger hand in these restructurings to a 2021 cram-down reform, according to the Debtwire coverage. That link is the adviser's characterization of the creditor position, not something the mandate count demonstrates by itself.

Who ended up owning what is not spelled out. The coverage does not say whether the lenders taking ownership were banks, direct lending funds or other holders, and it does not report recoveries, so the €14.57bn measures the volume of mandates Debtwire tallied rather than what creditors got back.

For private credit readers, the count is a volume marker for French restructurings rather than a scorecard. Whether the ownership pattern runs through direct lenders specifically is not something the tally answers; the lender mix behind those 39 mandates is not reported.