Slaughter and May advised Unilever PLC (Unilever), on the purchase, for £715 million, of the rights left in family trusts by William Hesketh Lever which are convertible in 2038 into 70,875,000 Unilever ordinary shares.

The amount paid for the shares represents a discount of 63% to the Unilever closing share price on 16 May 2014.

As a result of this transaction, which was announced on 19 May 2014, Unilever's core earnings per share will be enhanced by 2% on a full year basis.

CONTACTS

Corporate: Gary Eaborn (partner), Archi Campbell (associate); Tax: Steve Edge (partner), Michael Ringer (associate)