Activist Toms Capital has built stake in McCormick as it works on Unilever food deal

Unilever

29/05/2026 15:27

Stake was built after Unilever deal was announced
Size of Toms Capital stake not clear
Deal has raised concerns about long closing time
Adds share price, history of share price in paragraphs 7-9
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Abigail Summerville

    NEW YORK, May 29 (Reuters) - Toms Capital Investment Management, an activist U.S. hedge fund, has built a significant stake in McCormick & Co MKC.N, according to sources familiar with the matter, at a time the U.S. food company is working on a prominent takeover deal.
Run by Benjamin Pass, Toms Capital invested in McCormick  during the second quarter after the spice company announced its planned acquisition of Unilever's ULVR.L food business, said the sources who were not permitted to discuss the matter publicly.
The size of its stake and what Toms Capital intends to push for at McCormick could not immediately be determined. 
Unlike some activist investors, Toms Capital prefers to stay in the background and push for changes out of the limelight, rather than launching public and noisy campaigns.
A successful takeover of Unilever's food business would create a $65 billion sauce-and-spice giant, home to brands including Hellmann's mayonnaise and French's yellow mustard. It would help Hunt Valley, Maryland-based McCormick tap London-headquartered Unilever's global scale and expertise, company executives told investors after the plans were announced in late March.
A representative for Toms Capital declined to comment, while a representative for McCormick could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, McCormick's share price traded mostly unchanged early in the session at $46.58 a share. 
Both companies' share prices have been under pressure since the deal was announced. McCormick has underperformed the State Street Consumer Staples Index XLP.P by 15% and Unilever has underperformed the MSCI Europe Consumer Staples Index by 8%.
In the past five years, however, McCormick has traded at a premium to the index because consumers continue to buy spices and flavors at a time other companies are scrambling to readjust their offerings to fit customers' healthier eating habits. This year, though, the deal has weighed on McCormick's stock price as investors expressed some concern about the time it will take to close.
The deal is expected to close by mid-2027, subject to regulatory and McCormick shareholder approval. Unilever shareholder approval is not required, the companies said.
McCormick has been engaging with institutional investors who have told the company they see the merits of the deal but are pushing for it to close more quickly, a separate source familiar with the discussions said.
In the past, Toms Capital has owned a stake in Kenvue and pushed for a merger. The Band-Aid and Tylenol maker sold itself to Kimberly-Clark for nearly $48.7 billion last year.
More recently, the hedge fund has pressed Voya Financial, which oversees some $1.1 trillion in assets under management, to sell the entire company or sell its health insurer unit.        

 (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Abigail Summerville. Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Mark Potter)
 ((svea.herbst@thomsonreuters.com; +617 233 2138; Reuters Messaging: svea.herbst.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))