Activist investor Nelson Peltz has won a board seat at laundry and food group Unilever. The well-known American investor has been appointed as a non-executive director, a role comparable to that of a supervisory director.
This will likely allow him to exert more influence at the company behind brands such as Hellmann’s, Dove, Knorr and Ben & Jerry’s.
Unilever has recently come under a lot of pressure from various shareholders to come up with better results, otherwise, the company would be better off splitting according to some critics. Peltz is one of the investors who has become actively involved with Unilever because of the situation.
He believes Unilever has more potential. The company should make better use of its many strong brands.
At the beginning of this year, it was already announced that Peltz had acquired a stake in Unilever with his investment fund Trian Fund Management. He currently owns approximately 1.5 percent of the shares.
Peltz himself says he is pleased with his appointment, which is expected to take effect on 20 July. Unilever chairman Nils Andersen said that extensive discussions had already taken place with the American and that his experience in the world of consumer goods could be of value to the company.