WestLB Sells Stake in TUI

WestLB, Germany's biggest public-sector bank, said Wednesday it had sold its 31.3-percent stake in Europe's leading travel and tourism group TUI to banking giant Deutsche Bank for an undisclosed sum, according to news agency AFP. Deutsche Bank, in turn, announced separately that it intended to sell a stake of 17.3 percent in TUI to a Spanish consortium headed by hotel group RIU and place the remaining 14 percent with institutional investors. WestLB had long said it was looking to sell its stake in TUI as part of its strategy of divesting non-core shareholdings. "We have succeeded in fulfilling our aim to sell our TUI stake by the end of the year," WestLB chairman Thomas Fischer said. "We are making substantial progress in our plans to focus on banking." Deutsche Bank said in a separate statement it had agreed to sell a 17.3-percent stake on to a consortium comprising RIU, Caja de Ahorros del Mediteraneo and Grupo de Empresas Matutes. The remaining 14 percent would be "sold to institutional investors via an accelerated book-building offering in Europe and a private placement in the United States starting immediately." TUI had been the subject of rumors of a hostile takeover earlier this year.