PARIS: Guo Guangchang Chinese billionaire is sweeten his bid for the struggling French holiday group Club Mediterranee to trump Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi’s offer in France’s longest running takeover battle.
The $1 billion plus bid process told Guo’s conglomerate, the Shanghai based Fosun, was set to raise its bid on Monday, and that Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure would be involved in the offer.
The stock was steady at 23.94 euros. The offer said Fosun would bid 23.50 euros. Club Med shares are up more than 70 percent since the bid battle began in May 2013. Bonomi’s latest offer stands at 23 euros per share and values the French company at 874 million euros ($1.1 billion).
Bonomi and Guo have been playing takeover leapfrog for months, with both men seeing turnaround potential in a business damaged by the weak economy in its core market of Europe, and by a stalled attempt to move upmarket.
In November it said weaker demand in Europe, unrest in the Middle East and Ebola fears in Africa hit bookings and helped push it to an annual loss. Club Med’s fortunes have not improved since Guo first bid.
Monday is the last day Guo, China’s richest man, can come back with a higher offer, according to rules set by the French regulator AMF. He has 18.3 percent. Bonomi has built an 18.9 percent Club Med stake, inspired by minority shareholder resistance to the first Fosun offer of 17 euros.
Further Club Med forecast to be back in the black in the coming year trades at a 12 month-forward estimated earnings of 18.82 times against 23.61 for its peers. Through his Gaillon Invest vehicle Guo’s partners also include French private equity partner Ardian, the management of Club Med, and Chinese travel agency U-Tour.