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Chinese firm trumps Italian bid for Club Med

Chinese conglomerate Fosun raised its offer to buy French holiday group Club Med on Friday, as it strives to win the longest bidding war in Paris market history against an Italian tycoon.

Published: 19 December 2014 10:24 CET
Chinese firm trumps Italian bid for Club Med
Club Med first became a top name in the European tourism industry for its all-inclusive budget family villages, but has since moved up-market. Photo: Club Med

Fosun bid €24.60 per share for Club Med, which values the iconic holiday brand at €939 million and trumps a previous bid from Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi's Global Resorts. Bonomi's offer valued the group at €915 million.

The Italian will now have an opportunity to raise his offer, further dragging out the process, which has already lasted more than 18 months, the longest takeover battle ever on the Paris stock market. Fosun had made its latest offer just ahead of a deadline at Friday's market close.

Club Med first became a top name in the European tourism industry for its all-inclusive budget family villages.

It has since moved up-market, weathering financial storms in the process, and is now looking for further expansion, including in China where it has been a partner with Fosun.

According to company figures released earlier this month, of the 25,000 new clients Club Med attracted in 2013, 80 percent were Chinese – and the rest were Brazilians.

Fosun's new offer aims at expanding in China and Brazil but also stressed that "the group would continue to invest in France, Club Med's leading market, to continue to win new parts of the market and outperform its competitors."

READ MORE: Club Med takeover heats up with Italian's offer

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Villages across Swiss Alps set to fight proposed base jumping ban

A proposal to ban base jumping in the Bernese Highlands has drawn criticism, with locals countering claims that the extreme sport is dangerous.

Published: 4 October 2019 10:20 CEST
Villages across Swiss Alps set to fight proposed base jumping ban
Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Kiener Nellen, a National Councillor in Bern, has instructed the Federal Council to consider a nationwide ban on the practice. 

Nellen said that the dangerous sport was harmful to Switzerland’s reputation, while also putting local rescue staff at risk. 

Nellen told the Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen broadcasting company that base jumping ”endangers the reputation of Switzerland’s tourism industry and the Bernese Highlands”. 

An average of 4.5 deaths per year

More and more base jumps take place in Switzerland every year, with more than 30,000 completed in 2018.

While base jumping is becoming a more established practice, it remains unsafe. 

READ: British base jumper dies in Lauterbrunnen

Four people died base jumping in 2017 in Switzerland, down from nine in 2016 and ten in 2015. A total of 81 people have died in Switzerland since 2002, an average of 4.5 per year. 

'Not thoughtless weirdos'

Several have spoken out against the ban, arguing that the practice is becoming safer – and that it is crucial to the local economy. 

Aside from the money spent by the base jumpers when they stay in Switzerland, they are also required to buy a ‘Landing Card’. 

The money from these cards is paid back to local farmers who offer their properties as landing pads and began as an initiative of the base jumpers themselves. 

Base jumping. Michael Mathes / AFP

Annette Weber, who works at a cafe in the Bernese Highlands, told Swiss online newspaper Watson that the stereotype of irresponsible, risk-taking base jumpers was not accurate. 

“They’re not half-wild weirdos who throw themselves thoughtlessly off the cliffs,” she said. 

“It would be totally ridiculous to criminalize base jumping.” 

Lauterbrunnen Mayor Martin Stäger (SVP) agreed, saying that a ban would be not be effective. 

“The base jumpers mostly stick to the rules in our valley,” he said. 

“A ban would be completely counterproductive. How can such a ban be controlled?

“Then people would just jump at the unofficial, more dangerous places.”

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