Unilever spinoff Magnum Ice Cream debuts on Amsterdam stock market

Magnum Ice Cream Company, present the world's largest standalone crystal pick business, debuted connected the Amsterdam banal speech connected Monday.

The banal opened astatine 12.20 euros, somewhat beneath its notation stock terms of 12.80 euros. Secondary listings are besides taking spot successful London and New York.

"We became the planetary person successful crystal pick arsenic portion of the Unilever family," CEO Peter ter Kulve said Monday up of the debut. "Now, arsenic an autarkic listed company, we volition beryllium much agile, much focused, and much ambitious than ever."

Unilever first announced plans to rotation disconnected its crystal pick unit, which includes Ben & Jerry's and Magnum, successful March past year.

"The crushed that Unilever decided to rotation disconnected Magnum is truly due to the fact that they haven't been capable to absorption connected it," RBC's James Edwardes Jones told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."

"They haven't had the bandwidth to accommodate Magnum astatine the aforesaid clip that they're truly pushing up connected their idiosyncratic attraction strategy. And arsenic a effect of that, the thought of the IPO of Magnum is that they're going to person a dedicated absorption capable to absorption connected costs, connected superior expenditure and truthful on, truly 100% focused connected the crystal pick business."

The user goods elephantine faced unit from investors to overhaul its sprawling business. Its crystal pick division, which generated 7.9 cardinal euros ($9.2 billion) successful gross successful 2023, would execute amended arsenic a stand-alone business. 

Magum successful September acceptable a people to turn gross betwixt 3% to 5% successful the mean word from 2026.

"There's a beardown emerging marketplace angle, and it has a starring marketplace stock successful its industry, with immoderate precise almighty brands," said Russ Mould, concern manager astatine AJ Bell. "On the downside, you person commodity exposure, you person this governance contented with Ben & Jerry's, which is simply a large challenge, and you person a concern that's beauteous overmuch upwind related," helium told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" connected Monday.

"Also, determination is the suspicion that, fixed that it has been possibly tally for cash, and it's a reasonably capital-intensive business, there'll request to beryllium immoderate reasonably important concern going guardant arsenic well."

The user staples class is expected to look challenges owed to health-conscious consumers and the booming value nonaccomplishment cause concern pioneered by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Magnum has suggested that these factors could outgo the institution astir fractional a percent constituent per twelvemonth successful revenue, Mould said, adding that absorption whitethorn travel up with caller formats to antagonistic the trend.

A bid of nationalist disputes with the founders of Ben & Jerry's has threatened to overshadow the spinoff.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Magnum's CEO Peter ter Kulve called connected Ben & Jerry's co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to "hand implicit to a caller generation." Cohen responded by accusing Magnum of attempting to soundlessness the brand's societal mission. He antecedently called connected Unilever to "free" Ben and Jerry's.

— CNBC's Matthew Ward-Perkins contributed to this report.