Major shareholder in Russia’s TUI gives his wife the right to vote to circumvent sanctions | Abroad

At the end of last month, the European Union imposed sanctions on a number of Russian businessmen accused of supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. And Brussels believes that Mordashov, according to “Forbes”, the richest Russian with a fortune of more than 26 billion euros, is also close to Putin. By handing over voting rights within TUI to his wife Marina Mordashova, he appears to be retaining control of his shares. TUI reports that German authorities are investigating whether the deal between Mordashov and his wife is legally valid.

TUI previously announced that Mordashov would resign from the company’s board of directors. She added that “the intent of the European sanctions is to prevent Mordashov from accessing his shares in TUI AG and not reaping more income from it.” TUI has also distanced itself from Mordashov.

Until recently, the travel giant itself did not know who controls nearly a third of the shares. Friday’s report states that Mordashova owns 29.87 percent of the shares. I got it on Feb. 28, but it wasn’t until the following days that the contours of the maneuver became clear. Of the 34 percent of the shares that Mordashov owned through his company Unifirm, a total of 4.1 percent were transferred to the Russian Severgroup. The remaining shares went to Ondero Limited. It is only now clear that this car registered in the British Virgin Islands is under the control of Mordashov’s wife.

In addition, because this transaction is below the 30 percent threshold, German law did not require Ondero to launch a formal takeover offer of the group, and thus was not required to disclose details of its ownership structure.

In the early 1990s, Mordashov, in his twenties, took over the steel company Severstal. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, it was a state-owned company. The Russian has been a contributor to TUI for fifteen years now.

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