Russia's Mordashov wants 20 pct of TUI - paper

FRANKFURT, April 14 (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov wants to double his stake in German tourism and shipping firm TUI (TUIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) to 20 percent, Handelsblatt newspaper reported, citing financial sources.

The steel tycoon recently increased his holding in the company to 10.03 percent.

A spokesman for TUI on Monday declined to comment on the report, due to be published in the paper's Tuesday edition. TUI Chief Executive Michael Frenzel last month dropped his two-pillar strategy of tourism and shipping under shareholder pressure and said he would consider options to sell, spin off or merge its Hapag-Lloyd container shipping business.

Mordashov said he backed the new strategy, which he said was in the best interest of shareholders. (Reporting by Arno Schuetze, writing by James Regan)