London may miss out on the float of Unilever PLC's (LSE:ULVR) €17 billion (£14.5bn) ice cream scoop-out, with Amsterdam seeming to be front-runner for the initial public offer destination.
The Anglo-Dutch giant said last week that it plans to spin off its ice cream unit, including Ben & Jerry's, Magnum and Walls.
CEO Hein Schumacher said the Netherlands, where Unilever Ice Cream is based, has “a good chance” of being where the IPO is held.
Speaking to Buitenhof TV over the weekend Sunday, Schumacher said: "The most likely route is to split off with a separate stock exchange listing and its own head office."
Both cities have been enduring dry runs in the IPO market, with last year London’s worst in three decades and Amsterdam seeing no listings at all.
As well as UK-based chipmaker Arm Holdings being re-listed in the US rather than its home country, several large companies have chosen to move to New York for their primary listing or entirely, such as CRH and Flutter Entertainment.
In 2020, Unilever said in a letter to the government of the Netherlands that if its foods division was ever to be split off, it would be listed in Amsterdam. Ice cream was later separated from the food division.