Unilever backs London for food division secondary listing

Unilever’s food division, which is being sold to US sauce and spice producer McCormick, will have a secondary listing on the London stock exchange, despite an intensive lobbying campaign to list in Amsterdam.

Unilever itself has been based in London, and listed there, since 2020.

Unilever said in a statement that the secondary listing is separate to McCormick’s plans to establish an international headquarters in the Netherlands and maintain Unilever Food’s R&D facilities and operations in Wageningen.

This “reflects its commitment to the European market and the critical role the Netherlands will continue to play in the combined company”, the statement said.

Economic affairs minister Heleen Herbert said in a reaction to the sale when it was announced in March that the cabinet had already discussed developments with Unilever and would talk to the new owner “such as about a listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange”.

Unilever’s ice cream arm, spun off in 2024, is listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange as the Magnum Ice Cream Company and is headquartered in the Dutch capital.

The sale of the food arm means there is nothing left of the original Dutch part of Unilever, which was set up in 1930 through the merger of the Dutch Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers. Unilever now focuses on personal care and household cleaning products.