TUI, a holding company with assets in tourism and shipping, has sold part of its stake in container-shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and could reduce its holding further through an initial public offering, reported Dow Jones Newswires.

TUI sold a stake of 11.33 percent in Hapag-Lloyd to the Albert Ballin and KG consortium for US$439.76 million, reducing its shareholding to 38.4 percent from 49.8 percent. The deal is expected to close in May, but is subject to approval by Albert Ballin shareholders.

The remaining 50.2 percent stake in Hapag-Lloyd is owned by the consortium, whose members include the city of Hamburg and entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kuehne.

The price for the stake in the world's fifth-largest container-shipping firm could rise by up to $48.86 million if certain conditions were met in case of an IPO, TUI said.

TUI's supervisory board "authorised the executive board as a matter of principle to sell further shares in Hapag-Lloyd in the framework of an IPO," the company said.

Citing people familiar with the situation, Dow Jones Newswires last month reported that Hapag-Lloyd aimed to conduct an IPO April 15 and that the size of the offering would be between $1.4 billion and $2 billion with a free float of about 15 percent.

Source: CMA CGM