(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinionsexpressed are her own.)
By Carol Ryan
The FTSE’s Nationality Advisory Committee has to weighwhether the Anglo-Dutch consumer group still qualifies for
The committee has been flexible before: British Airwaysowner IAG and travel company TUI are members of theFTSE 100 despite being incorporated in
Unilever has less need to make concessions. Most
A tough line would risk tying FTSE Russell’s hands. Activistinvestor Elliott Advisors is pushing BHP to collapse its own“Siamese twin” corporate structure in favour of an Australianparent company. Doing so would put the miner’s FTSE 100membership in doubt. And the Dutch government’s recent decisionto scrap its dividend withholding tax may prompt Shell,headquartered in
Together, the three companies count for more than 14 percentof the FTSE 100’s weighting. To justify keeping Unilever in thebenchmark, the index provider may have to turn to subjectivefactors like investor perceptions and the company’s historicallinks to the
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CONTEXT NEWS
- Unilever’s two holding companies will become a singlegroup incorporated in
- The consumer goods company said that its continuedinclusion in the FTSE 100 index still has to be determined.Unilever is beginning discussions with the major index providersto determine how they would treat the new company structure.
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(Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Bob Cervi)