Unilever Stock Rises Sharply as Nelson Peltz Is Added to Board

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Unilever

said it appointed Nelson Peltz as anon-executive director and confirmed his TrianFund Management holds a roughly 1.5% stake in the consumer-products company.

Unilever shares traded in London were rising more than 7%. American depositary receipts of Unilever (ticker: UL) rose 7.1% to $47.09.

Peltz will join Unilever’s board and become a member of its compensation committee beginning July 20.

Nils Andersen, chair of Unilever, said the company has held “extensive and constructive discussions” with Peltz and Trian and “believe that Nelson’s experience in the global consumer-goods industry will be of value to Unilever as we continue to drive the performance of our business.”

Peltz said Unilever is a company with “significant potential, through leveraging its portfolio of strong consumer brands and its geographical footprint.

“Trian has made a considerable investment in Unilever. We look forward to working collaboratively with management and the board to help drive Unilever’s strategy, operations, sustainability, and shareholder value for the benefit of all stakeholders,” the investor added.

Unilever, the maker of food and household goods such as Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, abandoned its attempt in January to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer-health division for about £50 billion ($63.1 billion). It was reported then too that Trian had been building up its stake in Unilever.

“We hope Peltz can stimulate positive changes to culture, remuneration and organizational structure like he did at P&G,” wrote RBC analysts in a research note Tuesday. “If not that, at least the presence of an activist investor can drive collaboration amongst Unilever’s other shareholders and raise Unilever’s profile in the media to increase accountability of ongoing changes.”

RBC has a Sector Perform rating on Unilever shares.

Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]