Knives out for Unilever boss over Dutch flop

INVESTORS have called for the head of Unilever’s chairman over the firm’s botched plans to leave London.

Marijn Dekkers ( pictured), who leads the Marmite-maker’s board, was forced on Friday to perform an embarrassing climb- down on proposals for a single head office in the Netherlands.

Major shareholders were threatening to vote against it, and have called out the firm’s ‘arrogant’ behaviour as it failed to listen to their concerns.

Unilever has headquarters in both London and rotterdam – a legacy of the 1929 tie-up between British soap-maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine company Unie.

It wanted to simplify its structure with just one HQ in rotterdam, but this meant pulling out of the FTSE 100, which angered many investors.

One top- ten shareholder claimed Dekkers had allowed himself to be dazzled by chief executive Paul Polman, 62, a veteran of consumer goods giants such as Procter & Gamble and Nestle who masterminded the move. They added that ‘nothing was off the table’ when it came to the chairman and that a ‘fresh perspective’ was needed at the top.

Following the flop of Polman’s plan, analysts quickly predicted his retirement may be ‘accelerated’, but investors are now baying for the blood of 61-year-old Dekkers.

Several City heavyweights, including Aviva, Legal and General and M& G, had publicly said they would vote against the simplification plans that were rubberstamped by Dekkers.

A major shareholder said Unilever’s board was ‘too arrogant’, and that it had met with investors who had expressed displeasure over the move to rotterdam but assumed they would do nothing. Others said Dekkers may struggle to convince investors he is the right person to lead a search for a new chief executive when Polman does leave. One senior City figure said: ‘The board needs to know the chairman has got investor confidence to make that appointment. If they don’t, they would need to address that.’ Polman himself remained quiet as the fight over Unilever’s future heated up, with finance director Graeme Pitkethly spearheading the efforts to draw shareholders onside. One top-ten shareholder said it was ‘quite odd’, given the importance of the vote for Polman, that he was ‘completely absent’ in recent meetings, adding: ‘Perhaps it was because he has already checked out’.