Chinese conglomerate Fosun International sweetened again its bid for Club Mediterranée at the last minute last Friday December 19th, trumping a 24 euro-a-share offer from Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi (see a previous post by BeBeez) in France’s longest-running takeover battle. It is the eighth offer Club Med investors have been asked to evaluate since May 2013 when Fosun first offered 17 euros.
The new 24.60 euro offer launched by Gaillon Invest II, Fosun’s investment vehicle, valued the holiday operator at 939 million euros. The new offer will give Club Med “an opportunity to grow, with more resources, in its domestic market and in foreign markets where it must develop today,” Jiannong Qian, Fosun’s managing director, told a news conference where Club Med’s chairman and ceo Henri Giscard d’Estaing was also a speaker, as he is involved in Fosun’s takeover bid (download here Gaillon’s  press release and the AMF’s press release).
The news in this last re-launch is that Poruguese insurance company Fidelidade (controlled by Fosun) is no more acting aside to Gaillon Invest but will be part of Gaillon Invest shareholders capital. On the other hand, as for Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure, he is not formally part of the deal yet even if he has been reiterating his coming committement for the last few months(see a previous post by BeBeez).
France’s AMF regulator set a new deadline of 1700 GMT on Jan. 7 for Bonomi’s Global Resorts vehicle to make another counterbid  (download here the AMF’s press release). The AMF has been seeking to bring the process to an end by reducing the deadline period after each bid. It said that after Jan. 7, the deadline for a new bid would be seven trading days instead of 10. If the regulator feels the process has gone on too long, it still has the option to ask for final, sealed bids.
