(Updated with source)
Jan 23 (Reuters) – Nelson Peltz’s activist hedge fund Trian Partners has taken a stake in Unilever ULVR.L in a move that could increase pressure on the fast-moving consumer goods group as it backed out of a takeover of the branch. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
GSK.L, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Asked, Trian and Unilever refused to speak.
The information was first reported by the Financial Times, which cited sources with direct knowledge of the matter. These sources did not specify the level of the stake acquired by the American hedge fund.
The strategy of Unilever – maker of brands such as Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise – has been under scrutiny since the group de facto abandoned its plan to buy the consumer health branch of GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday, indicating that it did not want to raise its offer of 50 billion pounds (60 billion euros). nL8N2TZ5B9
(Reportage Vishal Vivek in Bangalore, French version Benjamin Mallet and Claude Chendjou)