Oct 21, 2025 - Business

Unilever delays ice cream deal over U.S. govt shutdown

Dan Primack

Illustration of a Ben & Jerry's-like ice cream carton with a melting ice cream cone and the words "bye bye!" — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Unilever on Tuesday said it will delay the planned spinoff of its ice cream unit, including the Ben & Jerry's and Breyer's brands, because of the U.S. government shutdown.

Why it matters: It's a reminder that the D.C. dysfunction is impacting capital markets — even if the S&P 500 keeps climbing.

Zoom in: Unilever had planned to complete the demerger by Nov. 10, with "Magnum Ice Cream" to have a primary listing in Amsterdam and secondary listings in London and New York.

But the British behemoth can't get its U.S. registration statement declared effective by the SEC, which is operating with a skeleton staff.
The company, whose shareholders this morning overwhelmingly approved a related share consolidation plan, says that it remains confident of completing the demerger in calendar 2025, but declined to share a specific timetable.

Go deeper, via Bloomberg: "Magnum Ice Cream has been optimizing its supply chain and building a sales team globally in preparation for the demerger. Sales have started to show improvement recently, including in the US, which is the biggest market for the ice cream brands."

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Unilever delays ice cream deal over U.S. govt shutdown

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