Unilever CEO says the Netherlands has a 'good chance' in listing the $18.4 billion ice cream unit that owns Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum
Amsterdam may beat London to a potential €17 billion ($18.4 billion) listing of Unilever Plc’s ice cream unit, according to its chief executive.
The Netherlands has “a good chance” of hosting the division after it is spun out of the consumer goods group, Chief Executive Officer Hein Schumacher told the Buitenhof TV show on Sunday.
“The most likely route is to split off with a separate stock exchange listing and its own head office,” he said, adding that the division is currently run from the Netherlands.
The consumer goods conglomerate announced plans to restructure its business last week, as new CEO Schumacher seeks to reverse years of lackluster performance.
While Unilever has not decided where the division that owns the Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum brands will list, the Dutch government wants the company to follow through on a promise it made four years ago that it would choose the Netherlands if it ever listed its wider food business.
One condition of choosing a Dutch listing is that the business climate remains attractive, Schumacher said. “The Netherlands is very high on all competition lists in this area. But we have seen some surprises in recent years,” he said, citing changes to the tax benefit for expatriates.
The Dutch Finance Ministry is already working on some proposals to ease his concerns. The government will present an outline to the parliament this week on alternatives to the bank and share buyback taxes as well as to the winding-down of the expat tax break, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
“A predictable government and regulations are very important,” Schumacher said. The Dutchman, who took over from Briton Alan Jope last year, said an initial public offering is one of several options and a decision will be made in the next 18 months.
In 2018, Unilever abandoned a plan to leave the UK for a single headquarters in the Netherlands amid shareholder outcry. The decision was a blow to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who worked as a human resources manager at Unilever in the 1990s and expended significant political capital to lure the company.
Unilever sealed plans to base itself in the UK in 2020, but said in a letter to the Dutch government at the time that it if it ever spun off its foods and refreshment unit, it would list it in the Netherlands, provided it remained an attractive location for business. Ice cream was later separated from that division.
