Club Med in midstream
The escalation of Fosun to win the leisure group is perhaps not the end of history. The passage of the French flagship under the Chinese flag is not yet acquired.
Tomorrow you may say Dizhonghai julebu, Mediterranean Chinese Club, about your last week in the village of Dong'ao, China. Since Friday, the cons-offer made by the Chinese Fosun Group to redeem the leisure group announces sinisation if she wins. A French icon of tourism and leisure born in 1950 from the imagination of Belgian Gerard Blitz and Gilbert Trigano French Chinese soon? Specifically, with 22 euros per share, shareholders of Club Méditerranée are invited to sell their shares to a team where Fosun will own directly or indirectly (through its Portuguese subsidiary Fidelidade) 85% of Club Med. At his side, the financial group that Ardian diluted to 5%, management with 2.5% and China tour operator U-turn with 7.5%. The offer will fall if they do not collect more than 50% of the shares or voting rights. And the group will remain listed on Euronext. "Great news," said Henri Giscard d'Estaing, CEO of Club, who spent the summer with the management teams of Fosun concocting this against-takeover.
The Italian Bonomi can still outbid
The road is not clear so far, since Andrea Bonomi Italian investor who proposed the end of June to put on the table 21 euros per share to clinch the trident brand, has not said its last word. Always generous with comments, financial merely to assert a press release Friday that he "valued its options in the interest of the company and its partners." "It was one month ahead of us to work quietly. We'll see how the market moves and decide. Fosun has not made an offer that kills our own. Can always decide to bid," explains a member of his entourage.
Ira, will not you? This is the question to € 839 million, the price offered by Fosun, which inevitably taps the Chinese group and its allies. On Monday, the Board of the Club will also examine the future working hypothesis. In the meantime, the directors will appoint a new expert, the third after Accuracy and Associates in finance to evaluate against the last-offer. Andrea Bonomi, he thinks. Three options are available to him. Sell its shares at 22 euros and pocketing a capital gain on its approximately 10% purchased on average to 19.50 euros. Make an escalation with the same partners gathered in Global Resorts, including former CEO and co-founder of the Club of son, Serge Trigano. Last track on which nobody believes: an alliance with Fosun. Speculation is rife. "An offer over 22 euros is still possible but it becomes irrational. This means that an investor is satisfied with a return of 8% over the long term. This fit well with the very financial profile Bonomi" loose an administrator.
"No crocodile tears"
Shareholders Club, they are rubbing their hands. At 22 euros, they receive a premium of 30% over the original offer to 17.50 euros. "I will not shed crocodile tears if the group is Chinese. Fosun In the previous bid-Ardian, parity France-China was already a façade. Now things are clear", asserts Colette Neuville, president Association of Defence of Minority Shareholders (Adam) causing several appeals against the initial takeover. The major shareholders of the group playing for time. Contacted prior to the announcement of the new offer of Fosun this week to bring their titles, none of them has wanted to get involved. One way to leave the field open to a higher bid. For its part, the Caisse des Depots, a shareholder of the club for many years, should continue to engage, a pledge of "Frenchness" to the tricolor icon. By coincidence, the Chinese vice premier, Ma Kai, will be received Tuesday by Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, also in charge of tourism ...