KKR Joins Club Med Bid

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has gotten in on the private-equity bidding war over Club Méditerranée.

Italian p.e. shop Investindustrial unveiled a new €874 million bid for the famed resort company, topping the roughly €836 million offer from fellow p.e. firm Ardian and China’s Fosun International by a euro per share. Investindustrial’s higher bid is backed in part by KKR, which has joined the firm’s Global Resorts consortium as a “minority co-investor.”

Global Resorts’ new offer comes just two days before a regulatory deadline in the battle with Ardian and Fosun, which began this summer when Investindustrial offered €790 million for Club Med against Ardian and Fosun’s €557 million. Ardian and Fosun improved that offer in September.

Club Med’s board is backing the Ardian-Fosun offer. The two companies already own 20% of Club Med, but global Resorts has cut into that lead, increasing its voting stake in the company to 14.3% with the option to increase that to 17%.