LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Magnum Ice Cream Company is set to finalise its long-awaited spinoff from Unilever on Monday with an Amsterdam listing that will test investors' sweet tooth.
Unilever is shedding
a business unit whose cold supply chain offered few synergies with other food brands in its portfolio, let alone Dove soap and Axe deodorant. Magnum, meanwhile, is counting on a pure focus on ice cream to unlock dormant productivity benefits.
Unilever completed the demerger on December 6 and expects to announce the share consolidation ratio on Monday.
Magnum - now the world's largest standalone ice cream business, home to brands including Wall's and Cornetto - will also list in London and New York on Monday.
COMPANY HITS MILESTONE, SET TO BE MORE AGILE, CEO SAYS
Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve said on Monday the company hit a "proud milestone" and would be "more agile, more focused, and more ambitious than ever" as an independent listed company.
Magnum, which will command more than a fifth of the $87 billion global ice cream market, is betting on the allure of indulgent snacks.
The listing will test investor appetite for a sugar-heavy product at a time when GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have shaken up consumer trends and U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing a 'Make America Healthy Again' campaign.
With Ben & Jerry's, Magnum will inherit a relationship that has soured in the past few years. Magnum said on Tuesday that the Ben & Jerry's Foundation, a U.S.-based charitable group funded by the brand, must address deficiencies in financial controls and governance if it is to maintain full funding.
It is an issue that affects Magnum acutely. Ben & Jerry's annual revenue of 1.1 billion euros ($1.28 billion) accounts for almost 14% of Magnum's global turnover, compared to just 1.8% of Unilever.
($1 = 0.8573 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Dimitri Rhodes; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Joe Bavier)
