McCormick Makes a Bid for Unilever’s Foods

Speculation that Unilever might be willing to sell most if not all of its food business became reality overnight. McCormick & Co. made an offer to acquire the business. Both sides confirmed there are discussions, but neither is saying how much the offer is for.

A Bloomberg news story earlier this week quoted unnamed sources saying Unilever had engaged consultants about a separation or sale, and that the entire unit would likely be valued at tens of billions of dollars – more than double McCormick's current total sales.

“Unilever confirms that it has received an inbound offer for its foods business and is in discussions with McCormick & Company Inc.,” said the British company. “There can be no certainty that any transaction will be agreed.

“The [Unilever] board believes foods is a highly attractive business, with a strong financial profile led by market-leading brands in growing categories and is [also] confident in the future of the foods business as part of Unilever.”

McCormick’s statement: “While these discussions are ongoing, there can be no certainty or assurances as to whether an agreement for a transaction will be reached or as to the terms or timing of any such transaction. [McCormick] does not intend to make any additional comments regarding this matter unless and until it is determined that additional disclosure is appropriate or necessary.”

With both sides being mum, it's not clear if McCormick's bid is for all of Unilever's food business, although the talk sounds that way. This would be a humongous and transformative deal for McCormick. Unilever's foods last year accounted for €12.9 billion (nearly $15 billion) in sales. McCormick's total sales in its fiscal 2025 were $6.7 billion.

Fernando Fernandez, who was appointed Unilever CEO in March of 2025, said at the February CAGNY meeting  his goal is a smaller, more focused company, and one that includes a lot less reliance on foods. That was already underway last year.

The company sold off a handful of small food brands last year, although the biggest subtraction was the December spinoff of its ice cream business into Magnum Ice Cream Co.

By the end of 2025, foods accounted for €12.9 billion in sales, down 3.2% from the prior year, and representing 26% of total company sales. “Food & Refreshment,” when that was a reporting segment, accounted for 38% of Unilever sales in 2021.

Infographics at the CAGNY meeting indicated that, in the future, foods and home care – another reporting segment that singly accounted for 23% of sales last year – together likely will amount to less than a third of the company, although a specific percentage was not given. Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care are the two segments Unilever appears to be focusing on.

Unilever’s food brands are led by Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Knorr products – many of which are powdered and based on spices and other dry ingredients, with which McCormick is familiar.

McCormick is no stranger to mayonnaise. At the same CAGNY meeting, McCormick officials touted the success of their Mayonesa as the leading mayonnaise in Mexico, and they hope to replicate that success in other geographies.