Takeover bid?
OPINION: Canterbury milk processor Synlait is showing no sign of bouncing back from its financial doldrums.
Unilever, owners of Wall's, Ben & Jerry's and Magnum ice cream brands, is operating in Russia more than a year after the country invaded Ukraine.
Unilever said that exiting was "not straightforward" as its operations would be taken over by the Russian state if it abandoned them. The company had been unable to find a way to sell the business that "avoids the Russian state potentially gaining further benefit, and which safeguards our people".
But the Moral Rating Agency - a watchdog organisation set up following the invasion of Ukraine - accused the firm of helping fund Russia's treasury by continuing to trade ther.
"Unilever must stop hiding behind its balance sheet and excuses to face the reality that selling an ice cream can allow Putin to pay for a bullet," says MRA.
Fonterra pulled out of Russia shortly after the invasion.
