HONG KONG-The management and two biggest shareholders of Club Méditerranée, the global resort operator, on Monday initiated a buyout offer valuing the Paris-based leisure company at about 540 million euros, or $700 million.
AXA Private Equity of France, the Chinese conglomerate Fosun International and Club Med’s chief executive, Henri Giscard d’Estaing, said in a statement that they planned to make a formal offer ‘‘in the next few days’’ of 17 euros per share in the resort company.
The bidding group, which characterized the approach as friendly, currently owns 19.3 percent of the shares and 24.9 percent of the voting rights in Club Med. The bidders said their tender offer would lapse automatically if it failed to win at least 50 percent of the shares in the company.
Club Med has been hit hard in recent years by the euro crisis, which has led to high unemployment and worried consumers across the Continent. Resorts in Europe and Africa accounted for 65 percent of the company’s revenue in the three months to the end of January.
In response, AXA, Fosun and participating Club Med management said they planned to privatize the company to help make it ‘‘free from short-term constraints’’ as it seeks to reduce its traditional reliance on Europe and expand into emerging markets overseas.
Shares in Club Med soared to match the offer price, rising around 23 percent to around 17 euros in Paris trading on Monday morning.
