Unilever NV and Unilever PLC CEO Paul Polman expressed regret over the group's measures to satisfy shareholders after rejecting a $143 billion surprise takeover bid by U.S. food giant Kraft Heinz Co. in February last year, the Financial Times reported Feb. 27, citing Polman's statement at a conference in New York Feb. 26.
"We had to make some practical compromises... which I frankly would not have done," Polman said at the event, referring to measures it announced April 2017 that were geared toward maximizing shareholder value. The company disclosed a €5 billion share buyback program, a 12% increase in its dividend and a projected 20% operating profit margin by 2020, among other initiatives.
"We were well on track to do that but I would never have put the margin out there. I come from a part of [the Netherlands] that we deliver. We just deliver and let the numbers talk, but unfortunately that’s not possible for the majority of how the financial markets still operate," he said.
Polman's latest statement comes more than a year after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company turned down Kraft's unsolicited bid, saying it "fundamentally undervalues" the company and that it sees no merit in the deal for its shareholders. Kraft, which was also reported to be eyeing Colgate-Palmolive Co. the same year, subsequently withdrew its offer to buy Unilever, telling Reuters on Feb. 20, 2017 that the bid was made public "at an extremely early stage."
