Unilever ice-cream unit €17 billion listing duel

THE ice-cream unit of Unilever has sparked a duel between London and Amsterdam for a €17bn listing. 

The firm, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies with an Irish base in Citywest, is listed in London but has not decided where the owner of the HB, Walls, Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum brands would hold its main listing.

The ice cream duel follows the Netherlands losing out to Britain for the consumer goods conglomerate’s headquarters nearly four years ago.

Unilever made a botched attempt in 2018 to switch to a single legal entity in the Netherlands, having operated under a dual-leadership system for nearly 90 years. Investors in the City of London rebelled against the plan and shortly afterward Paul Polman stood down as chief executive officer.

Unilever went ahead with plans to simplify its structure in 2020 but chose the UK as its official base.

The Dutch government “asked for reassurance that if Unilever should ever choose to list the Foods & Refreshment Division as an independent company, it would be incorporated and listed in The Netherlands,” Unilever said at the time, adding that it was “comfortable to make these commitments.”

In 2022, the division was split into two parts, nutrition and ice cream. The ice cream division had sales of €7.9 billion in 2023.