By Jessica DiNapoli
NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The chair of Ben & Jerry’s unbiased board stated she has no plans to resign as Unilever pressures her forward of Monday’s public spinoff of its Magnum ice cream division, which is able to embody the Vermont-based model.
Magnum, a longtime division of the patron items conglomerate, stated final month that the chair, Anuradha Mittal, “not meets the standards” to serve after inner investigations, with out offering additional particulars.
Magnum will listing publicly on Euronext on Monday, and is inheriting a deepening company feud between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s, stemming from the politically progressive model’s stance on the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
An audit of the separate Ben & Jerry’s Basis, a U.S.-based non-profit the place Mittal can be a trustee, discovered deficiencies in monetary controls and governance. Mittal has been the chair of Ben & Jerry’s unbiased board since 2018, in accordance with her LinkedIn profile, and a trustee of the inspiration since 2012, in accordance with its web site.
ATTEMPT TO ‘UNDERMINE’ THE BOARD
“The so-called audit of the inspiration was a manufactured inquiry — engineered to aim to discredit me,” Mittal stated in her assertion, saying she won’t resign. “You will need to perceive that this isn’t merely an assault on me as chair. It’s Unilever’s try and undermine the authority of the Board itself.”
Mittal stated she is finishing up her function as chair with respect for the social mission and product high quality obligations given to the board in Ben & Jerry’s 2000 merger settlement with Unilever.
Magnum, alongside with Unilever, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
As a standalone unit, Magnum will command roughly one-fifth of the worldwide ice cream market. The corporate has warned in securities filings that actions by Ben & Jerry’s might lead to reputational injury, boycotts or investor claims.
The Ben & Jerry’s unbiased board is aimed toward preserving the model’s social mission, whereas the inspiration, a separate U.S.-based non-profit, receives tens of millions in contributions solely from the corporate primarily based on how a lot of the premium ice cream is bought.
YEARS OF CLASHES
The board has sued Unilever twice in latest years, most just lately accusing its company guardian of censoring it over statements it wished to make on Gaza. Unilever has stated the model has developed into one-sided advocacy on polarizing matters.
In a separate assertion, the inspiration’s board of trustees stated it has been instructed that the audit’s “central unresolved subject is Unilever/Magnum’s demand that Anuradha Mittal … be eliminated as a Basis trustee.”
