Report: Unilever May Sell Some Ice Cream Brands

Dec. 14, 2022

But it supposedly wants to hang onto Ben & Jerry’s and other high-end brands.

Unilever is considering a sale of some of its ice-cream businesses that could reach $3 billion, according to a report in Bloomberg.

Citing confidential company sources, Bloomberg reported that Unilever is working with advisers to look into divesting ice cream brands including Breyers and Klondike. But Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, two of the higher-end, more internationally known brands, are reportedly off the table.

Divesting some of Unilever’s ice-cream business would fit the strategy of CEO Alan Jope to disentangle the company from its unhealthiest products. But a complicating factor in any deal is that its higher-end brands are often produced in the same processing plants as the ones that Unilever might sell, making it hard for a potential buyer to separate out production. Another is that Jope plans to retire at the end of 2023, leaving a successor to deal with the fallout from any decision made about the ice-cream business.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.