February 21, 2018
LONDON (Reuters) – The British government is bracing for Unilever <ULVR.L> <UNc.AS>, one of the country’s biggest companies, to shift its headquarters to the Netherlands after months of political pressure from both sides, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
British officials have held talks with the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group amid fears it will pick Rotterdam as its main base rather than London, the FT said.
“It wouldn’t be a great surprise if it happened,” the paper quoted a British official briefed on the discussions as saying.
Unilever had no comment, noting that a decision has not yet been made.
Earlier this month, the maker of Knorr soup and Dove soap said talks with both governments were progressing and that it expected to come to a decision by the end of the current quarter.
Unilever has already said it favors changing its current dual-listed structure which gives it headquarters in Britain and the Netherlands.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller. Editing by Jane Merriman)
