(Bloomberg) -- TUI AG's billionaire Russian savior resigned from the travel giant's supervisory board after being sanctioned in the wake of his country's invasion of Ukraine.
Alexey Mordashov, 56, has stepped down with immediate effect, the world's largest tour operator said in a statement Wednesday. The businessman, who made his fortune in the steelmaking business and has a net worth of more than $21 billion, owns over a third of TUI's stock after injecting capital during the early months of the Covid-19 crisis.
Mordashov's inclusion on the European Union's list of sanctioned individuals with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin was intended to prevent him from selling his stake and realizing gains, TUI said. The move adde to measures against 23 high-ranking individuals agreed last week that included banking executives, military chiefs, media figures and a top Kremlin official.
TUI was hit hard in 2020 after the coronavirus punctured a decades-long tourism boom, forcing the firm to seek state bailouts and emergency loans from creditors. Mordashov took part in the capital raises.
The shares declined 1.9% as of 1:54 p.m. in London.
Mordashov is the largest shareholder of Severstal PAO, Russia's fourth-biggest steelmaker.
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