Tony’s Chocolonely, the chocolate maker, has issued three ‘golden shares’ aimed at maintaining the group’s sustainability pledge.
The new governing structure is in place in case new shareholders or leadership try to steer the company away from its aim of ending inequality and exploitation in the chocolate industry.
The three recipients of the golden shares are Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) chairman Seth Goldman, former Tony’s board member Anne-Wil Dijkstra and presenter Ikenna Azuike.
These “mission guardians” will have the ability to work with Tony’s leadership if they believe there is any diversion from the chocolate makers' goals.
Should the golden shareholders feel connecting with the leadership team fails to make a difference they can escalate it into a legal investigation at the Enterprise of the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam.
Goldman said he is focused on ensuring the company keeps to its five sourcing principles, aimed at producing slave-free cocoa.
“I've learnt from my own experience that even when we create companies with the highest aspirations in mission, times change, people change, new people come in, and organisations change too, so no mission is guaranteed,” Goldman added.
The introduction of these shares has left investors wondering whether the company may be mulling taking the brand public.
The introduction of ‘golden shares’ is a common practice by listed organisations that want to remain in control of a company’s direction and can limit who can buy the company outright.
It could be argued that Tony’s owners would not need to issue golden shares if the plan was for them to remain in control of the company and its leadership team.
Tony’s did not comment when asked about an IPO.