Tanure aims to join China’s Fosun with fresh offer for holiday group
brazilian investor Nelson Tanure is in talks with Fosun International to launch an improved offer for Club Méditerranée, adding yet another twist to the battle for control of the French holiday group.
Mr Tanure, who has interests in oil and gas, telecoms and real estate in Brazil, said he hoped to reach an agreement with the Chinese conglomerate by the end of next week.
Talks are ongoing and there is no guarantee that the two will team up. But if they prove successful, Mr Tanure would become a minority partner in Fosun International’s Gaillon Invest II, a special-purpose vehicle comprising Fosun, French private equity group Ardian, Club Med’s management, and U-Tour, a Chinese online travel agent.
“We are in discussions,” Mr Tanure told the Financial Times on Friday. “We share the same vision for Club Med.”
Mr Tanure said he would invest about $90m in the venture through his Costa do Peró real estate investment company. He said he supported Fosun’s commitment to keep Club Med listed on the Paris stock market and to keep current management in place.
His comments are the first clear indication that Fosun is working to improve its offer after Italian investor Andrea Bonomi jumped in this month with a bid of €23 per Club Med share – €1 more than the offer Fosun made in September.
Mr Bonomi’s latest move, part of a ferocious, months-long tug-of-war with Fosun over the all-inclusive holiday operator, includes US private equity firm KKR as a new partner.
The latest offer values Club Med at €874m. Mr Bonomi’s other partners include his Investindustrial investment group, Brazilian investment company GP Investments, and South African hotel magnate Sol Kerzner.
Mr Tanure, who is already working with Club Med to develop a holiday destination in the Brazilian resort of Búzios, did not say how much he and Fosun would offer for Club Med in the event of reaching an agreement. However, he indicated that it would be “reasonable” given the current stock price. On Friday the stock was trading at €23.56.
Mr Tanure expressed concern about Mr Bonomi teaming up with KKR, which he believed would have short-term interests. “I am afraid that the fantastic Club Med brand will not be in the right hands,” he said.
He also said he feared that Mr Bonomi’s plans to make Club Med’s pricing more accessible and to invest heavily in European markets was not in the company’s best interests.
By contrast, he said he supported Fosun’s strategy of taking the brand further upmarket and expanding quickly into the emerging markets of China, Brazil and Russia.
“We have a strategy, a long-term plan,” he said. He also stressed that his participation would make Fosun’s offer tri-national – Chinese, Brazilian and French. According to French stock market regulations, Fosun has until December 1 to improve its offer.