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The New York Stock Exchange is trying to persuade Unilever to list its £15 billion ice cream business in the US, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The world’s largest bourse has formally made contact with Unilever senior executives and expressed an interest in securing the blockbuster float, sources have said.
Unilever announced plans to spin off the ice cream business – which owns brands including Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s – two weeks ago. It has kicked off a three-way scramble between stock exchanges in Amsterdam, London and New York.
Amsterdam has already begun its lobbying effort, with Unilever’s boss Hein Schumacher set to meet Dutch economy minister Micky Adriaansens. But the City is eager to win the fight after a series of companies ditched the UK in favour of the US.
Cambridge-based microchip maker Arm snubbed London and plumped for New York for its £44 billion float in September, while Irish building materials firm CRH and plumbing giant Ferguson have moved their listings to the Big Apple. The US is tipped as favourite for the Unilever business as it is the world’s biggest ice cream market. Americans consumed £16 billion of ice cream last year, with Japan in second place.
One banker told The Mail on Sunday: ‘For anything this size the Americans are like a rat up a drain pipe. They are always aggressive, the Dutch jump up and down, and the British will be typically aloof.’
Under the glamorous Cassandra Seier, head of international capital markets, the New York Stock Exchange has gained a reputation for fierce lobbying and persuading firms to make the Big Apple home. She has said the exchange actively courts UK firms amid dissatisfaction with the domestic market. The Dutch think the float is theirs due to assurances Unilever gave The Hague four years ago. They believe Unilever’s open-mindedness on listing location is a ‘positive signal in line with previous commitments’, the finance ministry said last week.
In 2020 Unilever pressed ahead a simplification of its structure and chose the UK as its official base. At the time The Hague ‘asked for reassurance that if Unilever should ever choose to list the foods and refreshment division as an independent company, it would be incorporated and listed in the Netherlands’.
In 2022, the division was split into two parts, nutrition and ice cream.
So far UK officials have been tight-lipped over how they plan to make the case for London. The Treasury refused to confirm whether Ministers would meet Unilever executives or if they had been in contact. A spokesperson added: ‘The UK 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 maximise shareholder returns.’
