Fosun International Ltd’s share price up, posts a larger bid for Club Meditarranee SA to beat Andrea Bonomi

Fosun International Ltd revealed that it made another offer for Club Meditarranee SA, which extended the deadlock between the parties. The step also emphasized on the China-based conglomerate’s determination to win the long-lasting takeover battle for the French resort company.

According to the announcement, the bid is made in collaboration with some partners of Fosun and amounts to €24.60 per share. In comparison, the previous bid of the company amounted to €23.5 per share. The new offer values Club Med at a total of €939 million ($1.15 billion), while the preceding offer valued the French company at €915 million.

As reported by Reuters, the Chief of Guos Gaillon Invest II vehicle, Jiannong Qian, commented on the renewed offer at a news conference that the new bid will provide France-based Club Med with “an opportunity to grow, with more resources, in its domestic market and in foreign markets where it must develop today”.

The bidding war started a year and a half ago, when the first takeover offer for Club Med was made by Fosun. Back then the bid amounted to €17 per share. The Italian investor Andrea Bonomi made the competition even tougher by revealing that he had bought a larger stake in the French company.

Since then, the two companies have been making bids and counter-bids, because they both see a potential of turning the company around, after it has been seriously affected by the weak economy of its key European market. Both bidders are planning to shift the focus of the brand towards emerging markets.

Now the stock market regulatory authority of France, AMF, is making an effort to narrow the next bidding round. The regulator has set a deadline until January 7th to provide Mr. Bonomi with the opportunity to make a counter-bid. After that Fosun will be given a 7-day-long deadline to respond.

If the offer of Fosun is taken, an eventual acquisition may put an end to almost five decades of public listing for Club Med, which has been facing difficulties to generate profits over the last few years.

Fosun International Ltd was up 0.20% to close at HK$10.08 per share today, marking a one-year increase of 42.08%. The company is valued at HK$69.64 billion.