The demerger of Unilever’s ice cream business will complete this weekend, with shares in the new company set to make their debut on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
Consumer goods giant Unilever told shareholders on Friday the demerger of the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, Cornetto and Wall’s among its stable of brands, could now go ahead.
Shares in the business, which generated revenues of €4.5billion in the first half of 2025, will have their primary listing in Amsterdam with a nominal value of €3.50 each.
A secondary listing of shares will take place in London and New York.
Unilever will continue to hold a 19.9 per cent voting share in the group, while fund management giants BlackRock and Vanguard will own 6.7 and 4.3 per cent, respectively.
Newly issued shares will have a nominal value of €3.50 each.
The demerger comes as Unilever boss Fernando Fernandez has sought to slim-down the group’s portfolio and focus on beauty and personal care brands, such as Dove and Vaseline, that have global reach.
Unilever is also in talks to offload its British brands Marmite, Colman’s and Bovril.
The demerger of Magnum, which is expected to be worth as much as £13billion, has brought to the surface a spat between Unilever management and the Ben & Jerry’s brand.
Ben & Jerry’s has already sued Unilever over alleged attempts to silence the brand after its criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Unilever has blocked Ben & Jerry’s chair Anuradha Mittal from sitting on the Magnum board on the basis she no longer ‘meets the criteria’ to serve.
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