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Indulgent: Supermodel Kendall Jenner promotes Magnum ice cream
The New York Stock Exchange is trying to convince Unilever to list its £15 billion ice cream business in the US, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The world’s largest stock exchange has formally contacted senior Unilever executives and expressed interest in securing the blockbuster grant, sources said.
Unilever announced two weeks ago plans to spin off its ice cream business, which owns brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. It has given the starting signal for a three-way battle between the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, London and New York.
Amsterdam has already started lobbying, now that Unilever’s boss Hein Schumacher is meeting with Dutch Economy Minister Micky Adriaansens. But the city is eager to win the battle after a series of companies sidelined Britain in favor of the US.
Cambridge-based microchip maker Arm ignored London and opted for New York for its £44 billion stock exchange in September, while Irish building materials company CRH and plumbing giant Ferguson have moved their listings to the Big Apple. The US is identified as a favorite for Unilever because it is the largest ice cream market in the world. Americans consumed £16 billion worth of ice cream last year, with Japan in second place.
One banker told The Mail on Sunday: ‘For anything of this magnitude, the Americans are like a rat in a drainpipe. They are always aggressive, the Dutch jump up and down and the British are typically aloof.’
Under the glamorous Cassandra Seier, head of global capital markets, the New York Stock Exchange has built a reputation for fierce lobbying and persuading companies to make the Big Apple their home base. She says the stock exchange is actively favoring British companies due to dissatisfaction with the domestic market. The Dutch think the float is theirs, because of promises that Unilever gave to The Hague four years ago. They believe Unilever’s openness regarding the location of listings is a “positive signal, in line with previous commitments”, the Treasury said last week.
In 2020, Unilever continued to simplify its structure and chose the United Kingdom as its official base. At the time, The Hague “sought reassurance that if Unilever ever chose to market the food and beverage division as an independent company, it would be incorporated and listed in the Netherlands.”
In 2022, the division was split into two parts, food and ice cream.
So far, British officials have been tight-lipped about how they plan to argue the case before London. The Treasury declined to confirm whether the ministers would meet Unilever executives or whether they had been in contact. A spokesperson added: ‘The UK has raised more capital than Amsterdam and Frankfurt combined in 2023, and we have developed reforms to boost UK floats.’
The New York Stock Exchange declined to comment. Unilever said: ‘All options will be considered to maximize shareholder returns.’