Unilever announces the completion of its group legal structure

Unilever, the parent company of Unilever Nigeria Plc, has announced the completion of the unification of its Group legal structure under a single parent company, Unilever Plc.

According to the press release issued by the company, from today, 30th November 2020 and for the first time in its history, Unilever now trades with one market capitalisation, one class of shares, and one global pool of liquidity, whilst also maintaining the Group’s listings on the Amsterdam, London, and New York stock exchanges.

What they are saying

Nils Andersen, Chairman of Unilever, said: “This is an important day for Unilever and we would like to thank our shareholders for their strong support of our Unification proposals, which gives us greater flexibility for strategic portfolio change, remove complexity, and further improve governance.

“There will be no change to the operations, locations, activities or staffing levels in either the Netherlands or the United Kingdom as a result of Unification. The headquarters of Unilever’s Foods & Refreshment Division will continue to be based in Rotterdam and the Home Care and Beauty & Personal Care Divisions will continue to be headquartered in the United Kingdom.”

What to expect

This development has no impact on the going concern of Unilever Nigeria Plc, the shareholding structure, as well as the free float shares of the company on NSE, which totals 1,491,985,247 — representing 25.97% of the ordinary shares of the company issued and fully paid for by investors.

However, upon the completion of the unification of the Group’s Legal Structure, Unilever overseas under this structure remains in control of the 74.03% ordinary shares of the Nigerian subsidiary.

What you should know

For investors on the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, and the New York Stock Exchange, dealings in new Unilever Plc shares commenced today, as the new Unilever Plc shares will be admitted to the Premium Listing segment of the Official List of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities, with the ticker “ULVR”.

Unilever Plc shares will also be admitted to listing and to trading on Euronext in Amsterdam under the ticker “UNA” today. It is expected that Unilever Plc ADSs will be admitted to trading on the New York Stock Exchange this afternoon.

Following the issue and allotment of 1,460,713,122 new Unilever Plc shares pursuant to Unification, which represent 55.56% of the total number of Plc shares, Unilever Plc’s total issued ordinary share capital today consists of 2,629,243,772 ordinary shares of 3 1/9 pence each.

As part of Unification, Unilever NV ceased to exist yesterday, 29 November 2020, which means there have been no dealings and there will be no further dealings in any Unilever NV securities (including Unilever NV shares on Euronext in Amsterdam).