Tui's largest single shareholder quits supervisory board
James ChappleTui’s largest single shareholder, Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov, has quit the group’s supervisory board owing to EU sanctions placed on high-value individuals with links to the Kremlin.
Mordashov has been a Tui Group shareholder "for around 15 years" and currently holds a 34% stake in the business; Tui chief Fritz Joussen on Monday (28 February) said he didn’t foresee any "lasting negative consequences" for the operator should Mordashov be sanctioned, despite freely admitting Mordashov had "propped the company up" during the Covid crisis.
Tui confirmed Mordashov’s resignation on Wednesday (2 March) and stressed there would be "no impact" on the company, its customers or employees. Mordashov joined Tui’s supervisory board in 2016.
The sanctions follow Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine last week, where fighting continues to escalate. The Foreign Office has since advised against all travel to Ukraine and Russia. Several travel firms have suspended their Ukraine programmes, and halted calls in Russia.
In a statement, Tui said: "The aim of the EU sanctions is to prevent Mr Mordashov from disposing of his shares in Tui AG. This is to prevent Mr Mordashov from realising any proceeds or profits from his investment in Tui.
"In this context, Mr Mordashov is also resigning from Tui’s supervisory board with immediate effect. He formally declared the resignation of his mandate to the company today [Wednesday].
"He has been a shareholder in Tui AG for around 15 years and currently holds around one third (34%) of the share capital. Two-thirds of the shareholders (66%) are private and institutional investors and come from Germany, the EU, the UK and the US."
Tui added: "The EU sanctions relate to Mr Mordashov as a person, not to Tui AG, in which he is a shareholder. In this respect, these sanctions against the shareholder have no impact on the company in which he holds shares. The operative business of Tui AG is managed by the executive board, as is the case with any German public limited company."
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