The travel group TUI is about to withdraw from the London Stock Exchange.

The shareholders are to decide on this at the Annual General Meeting on February 13 in Hanover, according to the invitation published on Thursday. CEO Sebastian Ebel had already presented the considerations for a return to the strictly regulated Prime Standard in Frankfurt in December, and now the decision has been made. "In the meantime, the majority of our share's liquidity has shifted to Germany," said CFO Mathias Kiep. A good three quarters of transactions are now processed in Germany. With the "move" to Frankfurt, TUI can look forward to being included in Deutsche Börse's second-line index MDax.

However, the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires that shareholders approve the delisting from the London Stock Exchange with a three-quarters majority, as TUI announced. The Hanover-based group relocated to the London Stock Exchange in 2014 following the merger with the British TUI Travel. However, according to TUI, trading has shifted back to Germany in recent years. There, the share has so far only been traded on the regional stock exchange in Hanover and on the OTC market. Investors had questioned the dual listing. "We have followed the suggestions of our shareholders," said Kiep. The advantages of the change include lower costs and compliance with EU regulations for airline owners.

The travel group would be a prestigious new addition for the Frankfurt stock exchange operator. Recently, Deutsche Börse has lost more German companies than it has gained. For example, the American-German gas giant Linde withdrew from regulated Frankfurt trading in favor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Rhineland-based health shoe manufacturer Birkenstock opted for New York for its IPO. The Mainz-based vaccine developer BioNTech also decided against Frankfurt in favor of the US technology exchange Nasdaq.

The return to regulated trading in Frankfurt could take place one week after Easter, on April 8, according to the invitation to shareholders. The delisting in London would take effect on June 24 if approved by the Annual General Meeting. TUI could return to the MDax at around the same time.

(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)