Magnum Enters into Share Purchase Agreement to Buy 61.9% Stake of Kwality Wall’s India

The Magnum Ice Cream Company has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire 61.9% of the stake in Kwality Wall’s from Unilever Group. The FMCG major Hindustan Unilever had earlier announced in-principle approval to demerge the ice cream business into an independent listed entity. Additionally, the firm had proposed that the shareholders of HUL would receive shares in the new entity in proportion to their shareholding in HUL. 

Following the demerger and listing of the companies, an open offer will also be made to the public shareholders of Kwality Wall’s. 

“The Magnum Ice Cream Company HoldCo 1 Netherlands B.V. (“Magnum HoldCo”) and the Magnum Ice Cream Company B.V. have to-day announced the execution of a share purchase agreement (“SPA”) pursuant to which Magnum HoldCo has agreed to acquire all of the KWIL shares to be issued to the Unilever Group Shareholders pursuant to the Demerger, comprising 61.9% of the issued and paid-up share capital of KWIL. Completion of the acquisition of these shares pursuant to the SPA,” the company said in an exchange filing.

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Unilever had announced its plan to demerge the ice cream business as part of its Growth Action Plan (GAP) in October 2023. The FMCG major’s GAP initiative primarily focused on three key areas, including delivering higher-quality growth, stepping up productivity and simplicity. The company earlier acknowledged that the ice cream business is different compared to its other operating businesses in terms of supply chain, point of sale that supports frozen goods, seasonality factor and greater capital intensity. Hence, it felt that a different ownership structure would drive better growth. The major has five of the top 10 selling global ice cream brands under its belt, including Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. 

“Ice Cream has a very different operating model, and as a result the board has decided that the separation of Ice Cream best serves the future growth of both Ice Cream and Unilever,” said the company in a statement in March last year.