Investor Kuehne warns Maersk off Hapag-Lloyd stake

BERLIN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - German investor Klaus-Michael Kuehne, who acquired a major holding in shipping group Hapag-Lloyd, said on Tuesday he had no plans to sell a stake in the firm to Danish rival Maersk Line.

Maersk Line Chief Executive Officer Eivind Kolding told a German paper over the weekend that he was not ruling out a bid for Hapag-Lloyd, which tourist firm TUI last month sold for 4.45 billion euros ($5.7 billion) to an investor group led by Kuehne.

Kuehne said he would hold a 25.1 percent blocking minority in Hapag-Lloyd after the deal was announced, and told a panel discussion in Berlin entitled 'How national should the German economy be?' that he had no plans to give Maersk a stake.

'This is not being discussed,' he said. 'We want (Hapag-Lloyd) to remain as pure-bred German as possible.'

(Reporting by Dave Graham, editing by Leslie Gevirtz) ($1=.7851 Euro) Keywords: HAPAG LLOYD/MAERSK ([e-mail]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]; 49 30 2888 5217) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.