Dive Brief:
- Unilever, the global consumer-goods company behind brands such as Lipton, Ragu, Popsicle, and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, has spent $1.2 billion to acquire the share rights owned by family trusts created by company co-founder William Hesketh Lever .
- The company said it made the move to simplify its stock structure. By reducing the company's total share count, Unilever also effectively increases its full-year earnings per share by 2%.
- The rights purchase comes well ahead of the 2038 deadline at which the rights would have converted into stock representing about 5.4% of the company.
Dive Insight:
Unilever, with its history of mergers and control of some 400 brands, is a complex company. Combine that with a dual-nation corporate structure, complete with co-headquarters in London and Rotterdam, and those family trusts, and it might take the title as the most complex organization in the food industry.
So perhaps any move to simplify things is a good move.