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By Martinne Geller
LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Unilever ChiefExecutive Paul Polman and his three predecessors have expressedsupport for Britain remaining in the European Union, saying theAnglo-Dutch consumer goods giant would be "negatively impacted"by Brexit.
"We therefore hope that in the interests of Unilever, the UK,Europe, and indeed the wider global economy, the UK will chooseto remain and thereby continue to play a central role inUnilever's long-term growth and prosperity," the executives saidin a letter sent on Thursday to some 100,000 UK employees andpensioners of the company.
Britons vote on June 23 on whether to stay in the 28-memberEU, with polls suggesting a tight race.
Engineering group Rolls-Royce on Wednesday joinedother big companies, including telecoms group BT andairline easyJet, in throwing its weight behind thecampaign to remain in the bloc.
The Unilever letter is signed by Polman, who is Dutch, aswell as Patrick Cescau, Niall FitzGerald and Michael Perry. Thefour have run the maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Knorr soupsfor the past 24 years.
"We feel a responsibility to point out that Unilever in theUK, with its thriving operating company, international researchcentres, factories and global headquarters would, in ourconsidered opinion, be negatively impacted if the UK were toleave the European Union," they added.
Cescau is a Frenchman, FitzGerald is Irish, while Perry is aBriton.
CEO Polman, who has been in the top job since 2009, toldReuters in January that a possible Brexit was similar to amessy, costly and ultimately regrettable divorce.
Unilever is the second-biggest company in Britain's FTSE 100 index with a market value of 91 billion pounds ($129billion). It has 168,000 employees worldwide, 7,500 of whom arein the United Kingdom. ($1 = 0.7060 pounds) (Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by David Clarke/KeithWeir)
