European companies have substituted cash for capital in their balance sheet assets: Why?

We look at the euro zone and France. Since the subprime crisis, we have seen: An increase in corporate cash holdings; A slowdown in corporate capital accumulation. There is therefore indeed a substitution of cash for capital in corporate balance sheet assets, which is obviously a problem: the efficiency of savings and corporate financing is reduced, since it is invested more in cash and less in capital. What accounts for this change? Probably: Fear of another crisis that prevents companies from raising financing or that drives down their revenues; The widening gap between the required return on equity and the risk-free interest rate, which discourages investment. The COVID crisis may further accelerate this substitution of cash for capital: there should be a way to protect companies against crises that does not involve accumulation of cash.