Unilever tries to woo investors on moving HQ to Rotterdam

Unilever (Amsterdam: UZ8.AS - news) - the owner of Marmite and Dove Soap - has pleaded with shareholders to support the proposed exit from its UK headquarters - a move that would see it lose its premium London listing.

The company's board took the unusual step of paying for a full-page newspaper advertisement on Wednesday to make its case for Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) to be domiciled in the Netherlands.

Unilever plc investors are due to vote on the planned move next month amid claims the firm is facing hefty opposition.

The chief investment officer for equities at Aviva Investors, which holds a 1.4% stake, told Sky News last week that he would be "very surprised" if Unilever managed to secure the 75% support that it needed.

David Cumming said its vote was "clear cut" amid a series of concerns including being forced to sell shares because Unilever would no longer be a FTSE 100 constituent under qualification rules.

He also pondered whether it was a defensive measure by the company to protect itself from corporate predators after seeing off a hostile takeover bid from Kraft last year.

The company currently has a dual HQ structure - in London and Rotterdam.

Under the proposals, shares of Unilever plc (currently traded in London) would be replaced with one new share in Unilever NV (traded in the Netherlands), while the two parent holding companies would be replaced simply by Netherlands-based Unilever NV.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Unilever NV would continue to be traded in London and New York, as well as in the Netherlands.

It says the HQ move is a simplification exercise and has nothing to do with Brexit.

In its Times newspaper advert, chairman Marijn Dekkers said shareholders would continue to be able to buy and sell shares in pounds as today - with the company's beauty, personal care and home care divisions continuing to be based in the UK.

He wrote: "A simpler structure will give Unilever greater flexibility for strategic portfolio change, including larger acquisitions and demergers of parts of our business.

"In addition, it will significantly improve our governance, by treating all shareholders equally and moving Unilever to a 'one share, one vote' principle for the first time in our history."