TUI to Sell Remaining Hapag-Lloyd Stake

The German travel group TUI plans to sell its remaining stake in Hapag-Lloyd in January and expand further in Russia and China as it redefines its business model, according to Bloomberg.

“We looked for ways to exit Hapag-Lloyd such as finding a new investor or doing an initial public offering, but without having the chance to succeed we’re back to our right to tender our stake,” Chief Financial Officer Horst Baier said Thursday. “Assuming we get all the approvals, we’ll execute our option on Jan. 2.”

TUI sold a majority stake in Hapag-Lloyd to the Hamburg-based investment group Albert Ballin in March 2009. The travel company still owns 38.4 percent of Hapag-Lloyd and has the option to sell a stake to Ballin on Jan. 2.

With an exit from shipping, Hannover-based TUI will be better suited to optimize its tourism business with expansion in Russia as well as China and India, the CFO said. In China, TUI plans to boost its trade in sending tourists to Europe.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.