Italian foodservice equipment maker Ali Group has made a $3.3 billion cash offer for U.S. rival Welbilt, a source close to the matter said on Friday, surpassing an offer made for the company last month. The source added that Ali Group is offering $23 for each Welbilt share. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Welbilt shares surged 24% to $24.68 on the New York Stock Exchange after the move by privately owned Ali Group. The bid trumps a $2.9 billion all-stock offer for Welbilt put forward last month by rival Middleby Corp. Activist investor Carl Icahn, Welbilt’s largest shareholder with an 8.4% stake, had agreed to that deal. Welbilt did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Based near Milan, Ali Group was founded in the 1960s by the late Luciano Berti. His son Filippo Berti now heads the company. With 80 brands, it operates worldwide and supplies food service equipment to businesses ranging from hotels to schools and supermarkets. (Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia and Sanjana Shivdas; Editing by Giselda Vagnoni and Keith Weir). – Source: Reuters / Wall Street Journal.