Chuka Umunna · @ChukaUmunna
19th Feb 2017 from TwitLonger
Why I say good riddance to the possible Kraft Heinz takeover of Unilever
Good riddance to the possible takeover of one of our biggest consumer companies, Unilever, by Kraft Heinz whose owners have a reputation for cost cutting in the short term at the expense of long term investment, growth and - most importantly - jobs.
Essentially this was a matter for the shareholders of Unilever but it would be absurd to claim this deal would not engage the public interest. This deal would have mattered not just because of its size - it would have been one of the largest takeovers in corporate history - but because the Anglo Dutch group employs thousands in the UK and has been a trailblazer for arguing that companies like it should take the long term view. Unilever's CEO has argued companies like his should act not only in shareholder's interests but in the interests of employees and should take care of the environment too. These are precisely the kinds of values we want to see in our companies and there was little evidence, on the face of it, that these values were entirely shared by the bidder.
I have no issue with foreign takeovers per se - just look at Tata's positive investment into Jaguar Landrover. My instinct is not to make judgements about companies based on where they are headquartered, but based on what they can bring the UK economy, and on how they behave as corporate citizens when they are here. In this case, the risk of asset stripping had this takeover proceeded looked high, whilst the likelihood of this delivering long term economic benefits for the working people of this country seemed low.