Unilever boss and predecessors want UK to remain in EU

By Martinne Geller

LONDON (Reuters) - Unilever (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS) Chief Executive Paul Polman and his three predecessors have expressed support for Britain remaining in the European Union, saying the Anglo-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 choose to remain and thereby continue to play a central role in Unilever's long-term growth and prosperity," the executives said in a letter sent on Thursday to some 100,000 UK employees and pensioners of the company.

Britons vote on June 23 on whether to stay in the 28-member EU, with polls suggesting a tight race.

Engineering group Rolls-Royce (RR.L) on Wednesday joined other big companies, including telecoms group BT (BT.L) and airline easyJet (EZJ.L), in throwing its weight behind the campaign to remain in the bloc.

The Unilever letter is signed by Polman, who is Dutch, as well as Patrick Cescau, Niall FitzGerald and Michael Perry. The four have run the maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Knorr soups for the past 24 years.

"We feel a responsibility to point out that Unilever in the UK, with its thriving operating company, international research centers, factories and global headquarters would, in our considered opinion, be negatively impacted if the UK were to leave the European Union," they added.

Cescau is a Frenchman, FitzGerald is Irish, while Perry is a Briton.

CEO Polman, who has been in the top job since 2009, told Reuters in January that a possible Brexit was similar to a messy, costly and ultimately regrettable divorce.

Unilever is the second-biggest company in Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index with a market value of 91 billion pounds. It has 168,000 employees worldwide, 7,500 of whom are in the United Kingdom.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by David Clarke/Keith Weir)