Unilever has added to the pressure on institutional investors to be more active by writing to 10 shareholders to ask why they did not vote at its annual meeting.

However, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group has since discovered to its surprise that three of them had tried to vote but the balloting process failed.

It has invited Britain's Department of Trade and Industry, which is keen to foster closer co-operation between companies and their shareholders, to observe its investigation into these discrepancies.

Unilever's latest contribution to the corporate governance debate turns on its head the conventional wisdom that says companies are happiest when their investors stay silent.

Concerned that their voices were not being heard, Unilever wrote to the 10 unnamed institutional shareholders after its May meeting asking them why they had missed the vote.

Unilever said it was keen for institutional shareholders to register their views and it "would welcome the chance to talk this issue through".

It has conducted an inquiry into cases where investors said they had given instructions for a vote to be cast but it did not register. - (Financial Times Service)