Unilever has announced the start of a share buyback scheme with an aggregate market value of €5 billion, as part of its objective of targeting a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.0x.
The buyback scheme, which commenced today, 19 May, will be conducted in in both Unilever plc and Unilever N.V. ordinary shares, the company said.
'Under the terms of the programme, between €1.5 billion and €2.5 billion will be bought back on the London Stock Exchange in the form of Unilever PLC ordinary shares,' Unilever said in a statement.
'The balance of the aggregate €5 billion will be bought back on Euronext in Amsterdam in the form of Unilever N.V. ordinary shares (or depositary receipts in respect of such ordinary shares).'
The programme is scheduled to end no later than 15 December 2017. The maximum number of shares that can be bought back by Unilever plc is 128,345,000 and the maximum number of shares (or depositary receipts thereof) to be bought back by Unilever N.V. is 223,024,384.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
