After 18 months of preparation, Unilever’s long-awaited ice cream demerger was finally approaching – or so it seemed.
This morning, the company informed shareholders that the planned split has been postponed from the anticipated November 10 date, with no new date announced.
The reason appears to be completely out of Unilever’s control. When the US federal government shut down on 1 October, it affected the administration side of The Magnum Ice Cream Company’s IPO. In essence, the US Securities and Exchange Commission hasn’t yet approved the paperwork needed for the company’s shares to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
From Unilever’s side, the company remains “committed” to finalising the demerger in 2025. It says it’s “confident” Magnum will be listed, as planned, in Amsterdam, London and New York by the year’s end.
When it does spin off, the company will become the biggest ice cream player in the world, boasting a stable of household brand names, from Magnum to Ben & Jerry’s and Wall’s.
The delay is not the only fly in the ointment for this planned demerger. In the lead up to the spin-off, one of Unilever’s most prominent ice cream brands, Ben & Jerry’s, announced it wanted to regain independence.
Accusing Unilever of having being “silenced”, the founders want to sever ties. One of the co-founders, Jerry Greenfield, has since resigned. And just this week, the remaining co-founder Ben Cohen launched a mass letter-writing drive to urge the Magnum CEO to cut Ben & Jerry’s loose.
It’s not the kind of publicity Magnum needs ahead of its IPO, and the company is standing firm. From Magnum’s perspective, the brand has been performing well under Unilever leadership, and doesn’t expect that to change post-demerger. Magnum has made its position clear: “The business is not for sale”.
