Unilever’s move to from London to Rotterdam is facing increasing opposition.
The Royal London Asset Management has become the latest to voice dissident in the Marmite-makers plans to de-list from the London Stock Exchange.
“Ultimately our conclusion is we don’t think it is to the benefit of our UK clients. As stewards of those clients’ pensions and savings we are going to vote against the proposal,” said Royal London Asset Management’s head of equities, Peter Rutter.
“It is quite a complex situation but one of our primary concerns is that if the proposal goes through, Unilever will no longer be a member of the FTSE 100 and other UK indices. For many of our clients’ mandates and portfolios, many of them would have to sell the shares.”
Unilever is one of the biggest firms in the UK’s FTSE 100 share index and has a market value of about £124 billion.
As well as the Royal London Asset Management, ethical investment campaign group, ShareAction also joined the conversation on Wednesday.
The group said “institutional investors are right to speak” before the vote by shareholders.
The vote needs 75 percent of shareholder votes for the plan to be approved, something which Rutter says “looks tight”.
“Looking at the other people who have come out with a similar public position, I think the vote is looking like a bigger risk to Unilever of not going through.”
The shareholder vote will take place at the end of October.
Shares in Unilever (LON: ULVR) are trading down 2.58 percent at 4.115,00 (1130GMT).