{"id":49557,"date":"2026-05-27T01:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/49557\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T01:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:21:29","slug":"unilever-shareholders-confront-bosses-with-concerns-over-tie-up-with-us-rival-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/49557\/","title":{"rendered":"Unilever shareholders confront bosses with concerns over tie-up with US rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The The Unilever Marmite factory in Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (Matthew Cooper\/PA) (PA Archive) <\/p>\n

Unilever<\/a> bosses were repeatedly confronted by shareholders with concerns over the decision to merge its food business with US rival McCormick at a tense annual general meeting (AGM).<\/p>\n

The board were forced to defend the \u00a333.8 billion deal, which was agreed in March, at the meeting in London<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The joint venture will create a major food giant that combines brands such as Unilever\u2019s Marmite<\/a> with McCormick\u2019s French\u2019s mustard.<\/p>\n

While Unilever and its shareholders will retain a 65% stake in the food business, McCormick will take on oversight of the business with eight of 12 seats on the board when the tie-up is completed by mid-2027.<\/p>\n

During the AGM<\/a>, several shareholders criticised Unilever\u2019s bosses for approving the major deal without putting it to a shareholder vote.<\/p>\n

Others shared concerns that Unilever\u2019s historic leading position on sustainability could be weakened for the food business when it is folded into the separate entity.<\/p>\n

Bosses argued that the board \u201cunanimously supported\u201d the move as a way to simplify the company and allow it to focus on its competitive home and beauty business.<\/p>\n

They also said the bulk of shareholders have backed the decision as well.<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks, chief executive Fernando Fernandez said the changes have been \u201cboth necessary and intentional\u201d and will leave the firm \u201cbetter able to compete in a world that is changing at an extraordinary pace\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt its core, this transaction creates two stronger, more focused businesses with an improved growth profile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On sustainability, Mr Fernandez said Unilever\u2019s values \u201cremain constant\u201d, with sustainability continuing to be embedded in the business.<\/p>\n

During the Q&A session, the board was challenged on why it did not bring the decision to a shareholder vote and whether it would commit to doing so for future deals that would transform the business.<\/p>\n

Mr Fernandez argued that not a single company has done so on similar deals since UK listing rules changed in 2024 so that it was no longer mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsibility of the transaction lies with the board and \u2026 this has been a unanimous decision based on the value creation that it will create for our shareholders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pressed on whether Unilever\u2019s commitments to reduce its impact on people and planet will be maintained by McCormick, the board said this will ultimately be up to the US firm.<\/p>\n

But Mr Fernandez argued that the two companies have a \u201csignificant alignment of values and culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSustainability<\/a> is an important pillar for McCormick also,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we have to iron a lot of details in what will be the policies of McCormack in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, bosses will continue to use their four seats on the McCormick board to push for \u201cthose things in which Unilever believe, that we believe are important for society, for shareholders\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

Chairman Ian Meakins said Unilever\u2019s food business already made good progress last year towards cutting planet heating emissions from its supply chain, meeting nature goals and reducing plastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure we will end up creating two faster growth companies but we\u2019re very aware we now have to deliver against the commitments that we made, and ensure that our colleagues at McCormick also do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Unilever Marmite factory in Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (Matthew Cooper\/PA) (PA Archive) Unilever bosses were repeatedly confronted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20694],"tags":[20951,20952,20954,20953,12213],"class_list":["post-49557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-unilever","tag-fernando-fernandez","tag-food-business","tag-mccormick","tag-shareholders","tag-unilever"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116643920800424263","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}