Buyout Offre Brings China Into the Orbit of Club Med

Fewer “crazy signs.” More karaoke.
That could be the future for Club Med, the French resort operator, which said Monday that it had received a $700 million buyout offer led by its two largest shareholders, an investment unit of the French insurer AXA and a Chinese conglomerate called Fosun International.
The proposed deal gives a Chinese company an unusually visible role in the acquisition and development of a prominent Western brand, which was founded in 1950 by a Belgian water polo player and for years defined the packaged exoticism of beach vacations for Europeans and North Americans. Now, though, the ascent of the Chinese tourist is helping reshape the world’s idea of the ideal getaway.
Club Méditerranée has long been known for the blend of escapist fun and Frenchness in its vacation formula — including the staff’s frequent performance of synchronized, heavily gesticulated dance moves set to pop music.
With Chinese co-ownership, Club Med cannot help becoming a bit less French. It has been hit hard by the euro crisis, during which its name has been borrowed by economists as an epithet for the debt-ridden and austerity-ravaged countries of Southern Europe.
Club Med is looking to emerging markets, especially China, for new customers and new resorts, which it calls villages.

Read More : http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/club-med-targeted-in-700-million-privatization/?ref=business