There is a sign in front of the Tui AG headquarters. The head of the travel group Tui, Joussen, resigns. The manager will resign from his position early on September 30, the company announced. picture alliance/dpa | Julian Stratenschulte
Tui shares return to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange after almost a decade from London.
The change is intended to pave the way for the share to be included in the MDax, the German index for medium-sized companies.
The main listing in Frankfurt is also intended to help secure the conditions for air traffic rights in the EU.
The shares of the world‘s largest travel group Tui are returning to Germany. After almost a decade in which the share was listed primarily in London, it will be traded again in Frankfurt from today, Monday. “From today on, Frankfurt will be our stock exchange again,” said CEO Sebastian Ebel. This is an important milestone for the company from Hanover. Ebel and CFO Mathias Kiep rang the stock exchange bell together in Frankfurt in the morning. The opening price of the share was 7.73 euros. The share will continue to be traded in London until June before trading there is suspended.
The change of stock exchange is intended to pave the way for Tui to be included in the MDax, the German index for medium-sized companies. “We remain confident and expect to be included in the MDax on June 24th,” said a company spokeswoman. By concentrating on Frankfurt, the company hopes to achieve cost savings, while inclusion in the MDax promises higher demand for the share and thus rising prices.
“With today’s step, we are simplifying structures, bringing together liquidity at one trading venue and thus strengthening Tui and its global brand presence,” said CFO Kiep.
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An EU stock exchange helps with flight rights
The move is also intended to help the company secure the conditions for air traffic rights in the EU in the future. The EU requires that an airline like Tuifly, operating within the union, be majority owned and controlled by EU owners. This would be easier to ensure if the main listing took place in Frankfurt, it was said.
So far there have been no problems even after Brexit, as CEO Ebel explained at the general meeting in February. “We have enough European shareholders today, even without the UK,” he said. The withdrawal from London, where more international investors traditionally invest, will exacerbate this. However, he does not expect any difficulties for the British Tui Airways. “We don’t have that problem there. The British are much more generous than the EU.”
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Tui merged with its subsidiary Tui Travel in 2014 – the shares were then moved to London
As part of the merger with the former subsidiary Tui Travel, the Tui Group moved the main listing of its shares to London in 2014. This also led to the group’s departure from the MDax, of which it had previously been a member. Nevertheless, the share did not completely disappear from Germany. It continued to be traded in Hanover and also in Frankfurt, but only as a secondary listing in the largely unregulated over-the-counter market. It is now returning to the regulated Prime Standard, which is a prerequisite for inclusion in the MDax.
Several investors had suggested the change in listing. CFO Kiep explained at the end of 2023 that, unlike before, three quarters of Tui shares were now owned by Germans and traded in Germany. Only 22 percent of stock trading took place in London in 2023.
The share of the major Russian shareholder Alexei Mordaschov, who once held more than 30 percent of Tui, fell to almost eleven percent due to a capital increase last year. According to Tui, Mordashov cannot generate any income from his investment and cannot vote at general meetings due to the current sanctions against Russia. At the general meeting in February, shareholders approved the return to Frankfurt.
AA/dpa