Fredriksen has shed a 15.7% slice having rejected offers from the company to take over its shares in German containeship owner Hapag-Lloyd, his aide Tor Olav Troim says.
Fredriksen offloaded 39.7m ordinary shares in TUI at EUR 13.13 each, a batch which was worth EUR 521m ($717m), Reuters reports.
Fredriksen first bought into TUI in 2007 and fought a public battle with former chief executive Michael Frenzel over the spin-off of the German firm’s shipping businesses.
Troim says Fredriksen sold the shares, which are up 48% in the past six months, as he had too little influence at the group.
He told Reuters: "Our investment in TUI AG was not the best investment we've done in the past. But with the share price recovery since Frenzel's departure we were now able to recover most of our money."
Hapag shares snubbed
Fredriksen is left with a 4.4% chunk of TUI, which is the owner of a 22% stake in Hapag-Lloyd.
Troim says Fredriksen had been urged to buy the Hapag shares from TUI but declined as he would not have enough of a say at the line. Hapag is presently in merger talks with CSAV.
According to Bloomberg, Jochen Rothenbacher, an analyst at Equinet Bank, says the surprise disposal of the stock comes because Fredriksen’s initial rationale to invest in TUI – the undervalued shipping activities – is not valid any more.
In addition to its Hapag-Lloyd investment, TUI also owns cruise ships.
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