Paris - Chinese group Fosun with its French ally Ardian and other partners made a counter-bid for French holiday company ClubMed valuing it at $1.08bn, they said on Friday.
The latest offer, lodged just hours before a deadline ran out, outbid an offer of €790m by Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi and his associates.
Fosun, Ardian, travel company U-Tour and Portuguese insurance firm Fidelidade, pitched their offer for Club Mediterranee at €22.0 a share.
That compared with €21.0 offered by Bonomi, and with €17.50, valuing Club Med at €590m first offered by Fosun in an unsuccessful offer in partnership with investment firm Ardian.
When that first offer was topped by the arrival of Bonomi as an alternative buyer, Fosun and Ardian pulled out, and had until the end of today to make a new offer.
The new bidders said that Fosun was "the majority partner" in the latest offer and that Ardian was playing only a small role.
Trading in shares in Club Med had been suspended on Friday at the request of the stock market regulator.
The shares were being quoted at €21.27 at the close of trading on Thursday, signalling that investors expected a counter-bid at a higher price than that offered by Bonomi.