Unilever to establish single headquarters in London

Personal care giant Unilever has confirmed it will end its Anglo-Dutch structure and establish a single headquarters in London, which is due to be completed in November.

The consumer goods group, which owns TRESemmé, VO5 and Toni & Guy confirmed it expects to finish the switch to one corporate and legal HQ over a weekend in November.

It will hold an extraordinary general meeting on 21 September for investors in the Netherlands to vote on the plan, while UK-based Unilever plc shareholder meetings will take place on 12 October.

Unilever currently employs approximately 6,000 people in the UK and 2,500 in the Netherlands.

Unilever initially announced its intentions in June, less than two years after it was forced into a U-turn on a previous proposal to switch its HQ from London to Rotterdam in 2018.

Unilever said at the time of the June announcement that its “strong presence in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will remain unchanged”, with no plans for staffing, operations or activities to be affected.

But the move will mean the end of a dual Anglo-Dutch structure that has been in place since 1930, with London becoming the single site for its legal and corporate HQs.

It will also see the firm have its primary stock market listing in London, with a secondary listing in the Netherlands and the US.

Unilever said at the time that shifting to a single legal structure would give it “greater strategic flexibility”, allowing it to be more nimble for takeovers as well as demergers.