Unilever shareholders approve move to the UK But FTSE giant still faces a further hurdle, with the Dutch weighing up a law to impose an 'exit tax'

Daily Telegraph ^

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Unilever’s UK shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of plans to move the Marmite owner's legal base to London, despite warnings that a vote on a proposed exit tax if it leaves the Netherlands could go down to the wire.

The shift to a single legal headquarters in Britain was backed by 99.5pc of voting investors at a meeting on Monday, bringing the firm one step closer to abandoning its dual-headed Anglo-Dutch structure after 90 years.

Dutch investors in Unilever, which also owns Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, approved the move with 99.4pc support last month.

But analysts warned that Unilever's proposals may yet be derailed by the plans for a Dutch exit tax, which could cost the firm €11bn.

Legislation proposed by the opposition GreenLeft (GroenLinks) party would impose a levy on firms with annual revenues of more than €750m that relocate their headquarters abroad in an effort to prevent large companies from leaving Holland.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Dutch leftists think the key to economic prosperity is imposing a kind of corporate "Berlin Wall" to stop companies fleeing from their socialist utopia.

[Fai Mao]

I bet the state of California is watching this.

[Retrofitted]

Oh, absolutely! That is one thing Democrats excel at: the use of taxation as a behavioral modification tool.

[Mister Da]

Unilever should tell the Dutch that if such an exit tax is enacted, Unilever will pay the tax & leave but will do no further business with the Dutch, neither sales nor purchases nor employment - nothing, to avoid future tax traps in the future.