“Chinese tourists’ shifting of focus from sightseeing to seeking fun and leisure has ushered in huge demand and we believe Club Med is the right brand that offers right services to grow with the trend.”

The ¤23.50-per-share offer is  50 euro cents higher than Bonomi’s and values the all-inclusive holiday pioneer at ¤897 million (HK$8.67 billion).

It came just hours before a deadline in a takeover saga that began in May last year.

Bonomi has until December 17 to make a counteroffer and  Global Resorts,  Bonomi’s investment vehicle, said it was “examining the situation”.

Guo and Bonomi have been playing takeover leapfrog for months, with both men seeing turnaround potential in a business damaged by the weak economy in its core market of Europe and  a stalled attempt to move upmarket. Both also hope to develop the brand in  China.

Asked whether Fosun would further raise the bid should Bonomi make a counter-offer before the December 17 deadline, Qian said: “I couldn’t give you a clear answer now. But both parties have the chances to win the deal.”

He added that Fosun was determined to own Club Med as part of efforts to reinforce its ambition of creating a tourism empire on the mainland.

Fosun unveiled an ambitious plan last year, under which it would invest a total 100 billion yuan in resorts and tourism-related businesses across China to tap the mainlanders’ increasing spending on tourism.

Guo has described Club Med as an ideal investment to tap  Chinese demand for the kind of leisure it offers for the country’s harried and increasingly affluent city dwellers to relax.

Indeed, the French company aims to make China its second-largest market by customer numbers  next year and recently opened a third village in the country on Dongao Island in the South China Sea.

Qian Jiannong,  managing director of Guo’s Fosun Group, described the ¤23.50-per-share offer as “a very high price”, but said the company and its co-investors’ long-term strategy and investment horizon made it possible, adding it was “no ego-driven decision”.

The new offer was made by Gaillon Invest II,  majority-controlled by Guo’s Fosun conglomerate, and included French private equity partner Ardian, with a 6.2 per cent stake, Club Med’s management with 3.1 per cent and Chinese travel agency U-Tour with 9.4 per cent, said a statement by Gaillon Invest.

Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure,  active in the tourism industry, had confirmed his interest  in Gaillon II and would own up to a 20 per cent interest, the  statement said.

“I’m positive about Fosun’s overseas acquisitions,” said Jupiter Zheng,  an analyst with First Shanghai Securities, adding that Fosun’s international investments fitted its strategy of acquiring good overseas assets and bringing them into China. 

Many Western firms faced limited growth prospects but could gain a new growth area in the country’s  consumer market, he said.

Moody’s Investors Service said: “Fosun has demonstrated a higher-than-expected risk appetite in pursuing growth. Its flexible investment strategy allows it to expand its  portfolio and enter into new areas that it may not necessarily have experience in. However, such an approach raises the company’s risks.”

With additional reporting from Reuters.