Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi has launched a counter offer for French holiday-resort operator Club Med, outbidding terms proposed by Chinese company Fosun and French firm Ardian.

The new offer made late on Monday, ends several months of suspense over Bonomi's intentions.

He is offering significantly better terms than the Fosun-Ardian bid which is backed by the club's management, proposing 22.41 euros per share compared with 17.50, and 22.41 euros per share for each bond which may be converted into shares, compared with 19.79.

The new bid was put formally before the French stock market authority AMF by Global Resorts SAS which is owned by Bonomi's company Investindustrial.

Fosun and Ardian launched their offer a year ago but it ran into opposition from some shareholders who said it was pitched too low, since the shares were then worth about 19.0 euros.

That first offer valued the company at about 550 million euros ($753 million).

Bonomi gradually built up an interest of 10-percent in the Club Mediterranee, and then made his move overnight.

The company Gaillon Invest, which is the vehicle for Fosun and Ardian, said that it had taken note of the counter offer which it would study once it had access to the official proposal.

An investment fund which owns shares in the club, called CIAM, and which had made a legal challenge to the Fosun-Ardian bid, welcomed the move by Bonomi.

Trading in shares in Club Med, as the target firm is known, was suspended on Monday after the stock had risen by 2.74 percent to 19.51 euros. Trading was to be resumed early in the afternoon on Tuesday.

ak/hd/hmn

CLUB MEDITERRANEE