Ski resorts operator in talks to sell stake

French ski resorts operator Compagnie des Alpes is talking to Chinese group Fosun and other potential foreign investors about selling a stake, it said on Monday, despite opposition from local officials in France.
French daily Le Monde reported last month that Fosun, which already controls French holiday group Club Med, was in advanced talks to take a 10 to 15 percent stake in Compagnie des Alpes (CDA). On Friday, officials in the French Alps issued a joint statement opposing Chinese investment in the company.
“Talks continue. We are looking for people in total agreement with the group’s strategy,” said a spokeswoman for CDA, which operates 11 ski resorts in France and 13 leisure parks in Europe, including Parc Asterix and the Grevin wax work museum in Paris.

CDA wants to expand abroad, notably in high-growth markets like China, and has been looking for partners to help it accelerate that strategy.
The spokeswoman said the company hopes to secure an investor by the end of the year, but would not confirm the size of the stake.
She would not comment on Friday’s statement by local officials, which said they opposed what they called selling French ski resorts “on the cheap” to foreign companies.
“The possibility of Chinese consortium Fosun entering the capital presents several key risks for the future of the French ski resorts operated by CDA and raises strong worries among local officials about the economic future of their territories,” the statement said.
It was signed by Laurent Wauquiez, head of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region; Herve Gaymard, president of the Haute-Savoie department; and Jean-Pierre Barbier, president of the Isere department.
The move comes as France’s AccorHotels, Europe’s largest hotel group, also seeks to limit a push by Chinese shareholder Jin Jiang to increase its 15 percent stake in the company.
Jin Jiang and Fosun are among a growing number of Chinese firms investing in Europe’s tourism industry.
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told parliament last month that setting up partnerships with large tourist economies, including China, was “a good thing.”
What mattered in the case of CDA, he said, was that state-owned bank Caisse des Depots (CDC), which is the reference shareholder of Compagnie des Alpes with a 40 percent stake, stayed as reference shareholder.
CDC has said it will do so and on Monday it reiterated that commitment, telling Reuters it was “the guarantee” that would keep Compagnie des Alpes anchored in France.
Compagnie des Alpes had consolidated sales of 696 million euros ($768 mln) in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2015.

source: Arab News