Unilever buys out rights of family trusts

London - Consumer goods group Unilever said on Monday it had paid £715m for the rights left in family trusts by co-founder William Hesketh Lever in a move to simplify the Anglo-Dutch group's share structure.

The rights are convertible in 2038 to 70.9 million shares of Unilever, or about 2.4% of the combined total of London-listed Unilever and Amsterdam-listed Unilever.

The reduction in share count will boost full-year earnings per share by 2%, said the company, whose products range from Dove soap to Lipton tea.

Unilever chief financial officer Jean-Marc Huet said in a statement that the move was good for shareholders.

Various trusts

"It is another step in the simplification of Unilever's capital structure, making the company easier to understand and eliminating ahead of time the burden of a significant dilution of shareholders' interests," Huet said.

William Hesketh Lever and his brother founded the English soap company that became Unilever in the 1880s. When he died in 1925, he left a large number of shares in various trusts.

The price Unilever paid the trusts is equivalent to £10.09 per share and represents a discount of 63% to the closing share price on 16 May, the company said.

Shares of Unilever were up 1.2% or £27.37 just before lunch in London.