Unilever pressing on with unification despite Dutch ‘exit tax’ proposal – CEO

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Alan Jope, the chief executive of Unilever , said on Monday the company would press on with plans to unify despite a Dutch opposition party proposal calling for an “exit tax” on the firm if it moves to a single British parent company and headquarters as planned.

At a meeting at which holders of the company’s Dutch shares are expected to approve unification, Jope repeated the tax proposal is at an early stage and Unilever believes it would violate international law.

However, he said the company could always cancel the merger up to the moment of a high court approval hearing if the law were to be passed.

Unilever says the tax could cost it up to 11 billion euros and would be a reason to stop the unification.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)