London behind in battle for Unilever ice cream float: Boss says Amsterdam has ‘good chance’ of winning race

 Unilever’s boss has signalled that Amsterdam is ahead of London in the race to win the stock market listing of its £15billion ice cream business.

Hein Schumacher, the Dutch chief executive of the consumer goods giant, said the Netherlands has ‘a good chance’ of hosting the division when it is spun-off.

His comments came a week after he pitched the two stock markets against each other with the announcement that Unilever will separate out its ice cream business behind household names such as Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum.

Unilever – the fourth biggest company on the London stock market with a value of £99billion – has not yet decided where this division will list.

But Schumacher suggested the Amsterdam stock market stands a better chance than London.

Cool runnings: Singer Kylie Minogue tries her hand at making a Magnum choc ice. Unilever boss

‘The most likely route is to split off with a separate stock exchange listing and its own head office,’ he said.

‘As a company, we are now listed in London, the largest market for ice cream is the United States and we currently run the ice cream division from the Netherlands. 

If I follow the most likely route, then the Netherlands has a good chance.’

Schumacher, who took over from Alan Jope last year, said any decision on where to list would be based on how attractive the business climate was.

‘The Netherlands is very high on all competition lists in this area. But we have seen some surprises in recent years,’ he said, referring to changes to the tax system.

The Dutch are confident they can win the highly-sought listing after assurances Unilever gave the government four years ago.

In 2020, Unilever went ahead with plans to simplify its structure and chose the UK as its official base.

But at the time, the Dutch government ‘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.

The Netherlands minister of economic affairs, Micky Adriaansens, is making the case for the Ben & Jerry’s maker to list on Amsterdam’s stock market.

And the Dutch believe Schumacher’s remarks that he is ‘open to all options’ for a listing are a ‘positive signal in line with previous commitments,’ a spokesman for the Dutch ministry told the Mail last week. 

Sophie Lund-Yates, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, has warned that a Dutch victory ‘would not be a great look for UK policy makers’.

Britain was recently snubbed when Cambridge chip maker Arm chose to list in the US despite ministers rolling out the red carpet in London. 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has held talks with fast fashion label Shein about a possible London listing.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk