French right slams Fosun's Club Med purchase

Takeover a long-term strategy as Chinese travel appetite grows

A French right-wing party's denunciation of a Chinese firm's attempt to purchase a French resort operator shows the party's anti-globalization and anti-foreign investment stance as well as a lack of confidence against the backdrop of a weak European economy, analysts said.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International became the sole bidder for French resort operator Club Mediterranee on Friday as Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi announced that he would not raise his offer, media reports said on Friday.

"Fosun is optimistic about the future development of Club Med and will not change the offer and bidding plan," the company told the Global Times Sunday through an e-mail, noting that there are no more details to reveal for now.

Fosun was founded in 1992. In 2011 it made strides towards its vision of becoming a "premium investment group with a focus on China's growth momentum."

The bid for Club Med, which was founded in 1950, has attracted wide attention, including objections from France's far-right National Front.

Florian Philippot, vice president of the National Front, said on the party's website on Saturday that Fosun's takeover of Club Med is due to "the total indifference of the French government."

Philippot also mentioned other examples of French companies invested in or controlled by foreign companies such as PSA Peugeot Citroën, in which the Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Group has a 14 percent stake.

He described the French government as "shockingly idle if not complicit" when French businesses were bought by foreign investors. But in the case of Club Med, the French government had to find alternative solutions to the Chinese option.

"Club Med will become China Sea Club under the watchful eye of the government," Philippot said on Twitter Saturday.

The right-wing party's attempt to obstruct Fosun's takeover fully demonstrates its political stand, which is anti-globalization and anti-foreign investment, Cui Hongjian, the director of the department of EU Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times Sunday.

European right-wing forces grow when the economy weakens and in their words, Europe becomes a victim of globalization, according to Cui.

Due to Europe's struggling economy, European countries implemented tight fiscal and monetary policies, leading to Europeans' dissatisfaction and lack of confidence, Cui noted.

The National Front won about 25 percent of the vote in European parliamentary elections in France in May last year, ahead of the conservative opposition Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, or UMP, on 21 percent and Socialists on 14.5 percent, Reuters reported on May 25, 2014.

But Cui believes that if the French government can take measures to de-politicize the purchase, such as encouraging Fosun to cooperate with French enterprises in the takeover, the acquisition of Club Med will be immune from right-wing interference.

Fosun's takeover of Club Med is a long-term investment strategy, along with the Chinese people's growing passion for travel, both at home and abroad, Wei Changren, the general manager of the Beijing-based Jinlü Consulting, told the Global Times Sunday, noting its all-inclusive holiday resorts will be welcomed by the Chinese market.

Tourism is a highly market-driven industry run by professionals. Therefore, changes in the composition of Club Med's shareholders will not have much of an influence on the company's daily operations, other than paying more attention to the Chinese market, according to Wei.

Meanwhile, Europe's weak economy dragged down the prices of its overseas assets, Wei said, noting Chinese enterprises including Fosun have been capitalizing on opportunities to purchase overseas assets in recent years.

Chinese enterprises' overseas purchases are diverse in terms of capital sources and investment targets, Song Guoyou, a professor with the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times Sunday.

A growing number of private firms have invested overseas, which is supported by China's fast economic growth, said Song.