Billionaire activist Nelson Peltz will join the board of Unilever, the consumer goods giant said on Tuesday, heaping pressure on the maker of Dove soap and Hellman’s mayonnaise as it reviews its strategy.
Shares in the London-listed group jumped 7 percent as it said Peltz, who has amassed a 1.5 percent stake in Unilever, will join as a non-executive director from July and serve as a member of the board’s compensation committee.
It is Peltz’s latest move on a consumer goods company and likely to increase pressure on Unilever for a bigger revamp of strategy after an unsuccessful 50-billion-pound ($63-billion) attempt to buy GSK’s consumer healthcare arm earlier this year….