---
title: "900亿，梦龙要被卖了"
description: "Recently, it was reported that institutions such as Blackstone and CD&R are planning to acquire Magnum ice cream company, and they are closely watching Magnum's stock price to decide whether to take further action. Although the acquisition idea is still in its early stages, it has not affected market sentiment; Magnum's stock price surged over 18%, marking the largest single-day gain in history, with a latest market value of 8.8 billion euros, approximately 69 billion RMB. The market predicts that if the deal progresses further, bids from Blackstone and others could reach as high as 11-12 billion euros (approximately 86 billion..."
author: "张雪"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2026-06-15"
language: "en"
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---

# 900亿，梦龙要被卖了

> Recently, it was reported that institutions such as Blackstone and CD&R are planning to acquire Magnum ice cream company, and they are closely watching Magnum's stock price to decide whether to take further action. Although the acquisition idea is still in its early stages, it has not affected market sentiment; Magnum's stock price surged over 18%, marking the largest single-day gain in history, with a latest market value of 8.8 billion euros, approximately 69 billion RMB. The market predicts that if the deal progresses further, bids from Blackstone and others could reach as high as 11-12 billion euros (approximately 86 billion...

Recently, it was reported that institutions such as Blackstone and CD&R are planning to acquire Magnum ice cream company, and they are closely watching Magnum's stock price to decide whether to take further action.
Although the acquisition idea is still in its early stages, it has not affected market sentiment; Magnum's stock price surged over 18%, marking the largest single-day gain in history, with a latest market value of 8.8 billion euros, approximately 69 billion RMB.
The market predicts that if the deal progresses further, bids from Blackstone and others could reach as high as 11-12 billion euros (approximately 86-94 billion RMB), because buyers would need to purchase not only shares but also assume corporate debt. Last year, when Magnum was spun off from Unilever, it brought about 3 billion euros in net debt.
However, even a bid of 11 billion euros is relatively cheap for Magnum, so the capital market has dubbed it a "cheap piece of fat."
**The world's largest ice cream manufacturer**
Although the company is named Magnum Ice Cream, besides Magnum, it also owns brands such as Wall's, Ben & Jerry's, Cornetto, and Qiancengxue. Its predecessor was the ice cream business of British consumer giant Unilever.
Unilever's earliest ice cream business dates back to 1913, when a butcher named Thomas Wall decided to offset declining summer sausage sales by selling ice cream. Later, Thomas's company was acquired in 1922 by Lever Brothers, the predecessor of Unilever.
Thus, Unilever's ice cream brand Wall's was born.
In 1930, Lever Brothers merged with the Dutch margarine company, and Unilever was officially established, with the ice cream business integrated into this vast commercial empire. Unlike other businesses, in Unilever's century-long history, the rise of its ice cream business was largely due to its global and highly successful localization brand acquisition strategy.
Specifically, Unilever did not forcefully promote a single brand globally, but expanded its influence by acquiring popular local brands in various countries, such as Frigo in Spain, Langnese in Germany, Selecta in the Philippines, and Ola in South Africa.
It wasn't until 1960 that Unilever launched the first "Cornetto" cone in the UK through a patent acquired in Italy. Later, "Cornetto" introduced the classic Cornetto series, which became popular across Europe, with the slogan "one bite crispy, two bites smooth, three bites full" deeply rooted in people's minds, and created a myth of annual global sales exceeding 1 billion cones.
Around the same time, Magnum debuted in Germany. This world's first chocolate-coated premium ice cream completely overturned people's perception of ice cream. Unilever executives once said that the launch of Magnum "truly revolutionized the ice cream industry and also revolutionized our own ice cream business."
Since then, Magnum has been positioned as high-end, Cornetto targets young consumers, and Wall's is a household national brand. Together, they formed the troika of Unilever's ice cream business.
To counter challenges from emerging competitors, Unilever launched a series of high-end acquisitions. For example, in 2000, it acquired the American brand Ben & Jerry's for approximately $326 million. Subsequently, it acquired several high-end or boutique brands, including Italian gelato (GROM), American cup ice cream (Talenti), and Australian fruit ice cream (Weis), gradually perfecting its product line.
The frequent acquisitions during the consumption expansion period quickly built a moat.
Before the spin-off, Unilever's ice cream was sold in over 80 countries/regions, entered nearly 3 million freezers offline, and held about 21% of the global ice cream retail market share, making it the world's largest ice cream company.
Based on 2024 revenue, among the top five global brands, they occupied four spots: Wall's (2.8 billion euros), Magnum (1.8 billion euros), Ben & Jerry's (1.1 billion euros), and Cornetto (700 million euros).
Moreover, according to media reports, between 2019 and 2024, by retail sales, Unilever's share was higher than the combined share of the next four companies. If calculated by absolute share in 2024, Unilever's size was equivalent to about 2 Nestlés, 5 General Mills (Häagen-Dazs parent company), or 10 Yili.
However, despite the impressive performance of the ice cream business, it still did not escape being divested by Unilever.
**Independent IPO for less than half a year**
In the past few years, Unilever has continued to streamline its organization to improve overall profit performance. Businesses sold include Lipton tea, the food division, water purification business, and Russian business.
Returning to the ice cream business, although this segment is large in scale, it has long been the group's least profitable segment, far below home care and personal care, becoming an important factor weakening the overall profit margin. At the same time, the ice cream industry itself has characteristics of "heavy assets, inventory sensitivity, and high climate impact," which are distinct from Unilever's other operations.
Unilever explained that after spinning off the ice cream business, Unilever would become a simpler, more focused company, operating four business divisions: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, and Nutrition.
As a "burden" on the financial statements, Unilever had to take action on the ice cream business. In the early stages, Unilever hesitated between spinning it off independently or selling it directly, and even initially preferred to sell the ice cream business to private equity firms.
This news first broke in 2024, when I mentioned that Unilever planned to sell Wall's to private equity funds and had already held preliminary discussions with well-known institutions such as Advent International, Blackstone, and CVC Capital, with a valuation possibly as high as 15 billion pounds (approximately 140 billion RMB).
However, this news did not lead to further developments. Instead, Unilever chose the more imaginative approach of "triple listing," which would both optimize the group's financial structure and allow Magnum to break free from long-term organizational constraints, thereby revaluing and unleashing its potential.
In 2025, Unilever Ice Cream completed the two tasks of independence from the parent company and listing. After the spin-off, Unilever still holds 19.9% of Magnum's shares, with a maximum term of five years. Over time, the retained shares will be sold in an orderly and prudent manner to pay for spin-off costs and maintain capital flexibility by reducing net debt.
On December 8, 2025, Magnum was listed simultaneously on the Amsterdam, London, and New York stock exchanges. On its first day of listing, its market value was approximately 7.8 billion euros (about 64 billion RMB). On the other hand, Unilever's stock price fell 7.03% at close, with market value shrinking by nearly 9 billion euros (about 74.1 billion RMB).
After listing, Magnum's situation did not improve much; it even experienced collective short selling by Wall Street.
According to S&P Global data, the proportion of network shares used for shorting Magnum once surged to 19% of its free float. Along with the short-selling wave, Magnum's stock price fell about 14%-17% cumulatively in the first four months of 2026, breaking below the issue price on the first day of listing.
On one hand, the capital market believes that with weight-loss drugs like semaglutide being snapped up, consumers' dietary habits are undergoing fundamental changes, and the long-term demand for "high-sugar, high-calorie" affordable luxury desserts will shrink sharply. On the other hand, the global trade environment is becoming increasingly complex, raw material prices for ice cream continue to soar, and consumers' willingness to buy premium ice cream is declining.
After the first financial report following the spin-off, Magnum directly experienced its largest single-day drop since listing.
Data shows that in 2025, Magnum's total revenue was 7.91 billion euros, a slight decrease of 0.5% year-on-year; operating profit was 599 million euros, down 21.6% year-on-year; net profit was 293 million euros, a sharp drop of 48.4%, nearly halved. More seriously, in 2025, Magnum's free cash flow plummeted from 803 million euros in the same period last year to 38 million euros.
Magnum attributed the main reasons for the decline in net profit to an increase of 118 million euros in spin-off and restructuring costs, an increase of 104 million euros in net financial costs, and the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on operating performance.
It is precisely because Magnum's financial reports and stock price both fell short of expectations after listing that private equity institutions extended the olive branch of privatization. A comparable example is another ice cream manufacturer, Froneri, which holds an 11% market share and was valued at 15 billion euros during its last financing, far higher than Magnum's current market value.
**The Chinese market becomes key**
The acquisition deal mentioned at the beginning will be decided after Magnum announces its summer sales performance, as this ice cream company derives most of its revenue from summer.
It should be noted that China has always been Magnum's second-largest single market globally. In the 2025 financial report, the performance of the Chinese market became one of the few highlights and was explicitly listed as a "strategic engine for innovation and growth" globally. Specifically, in 2025, Magnum's revenue in China exceeded 500 million euros (about 4.1 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of over 20%, significantly higher than the global average growth rate.
To sprint toward the 2026 growth target, Magnum launched a large number of new products in the Chinese market at the beginning of the year, covering brands such as Magnum, Cornetto, Wall's, and Qiancengxue, with innovations in flavors and scenarios. In terms of channels, Magnum is also accelerating its layout in high-growth emerging channels, including but not limited to instant retail and B2B foodservice channels.
However, in the Chinese market, Magnum's situation is not optimistic either. Compared with the relatively stable market structure and clear brand hierarchy in Europe and the United States, China's ice cream industry presents a highly fragmented, strongly contrasting, and highly conflicting competitive landscape, with the entire industry divided into multiple levels and operating at high speed simultaneously.
Data shows that by retail value, in 2025, Magnum Ice Cream ranked second in the Chinese ice cream market, with Yili in first place, and Mengniu, General Mills, and Shenyang Deshi Cold Drinks also in the top five. It is evident that facing pressure from local companies like Yili and Mengniu, Magnum still faces challenges in breaking through.
Fortunately, as a global brand that entered China in the 1990s, Unilever initially took the mid-to-high-end route, which means it can compete with its main rivals through differentiated positioning.
"The Chinese market is quite special; we face strong competitors whose advantages are concentrated in mass-market ice cream. Therefore, our product strategy in China focuses on high-end positioning," Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve once told the media.
The high-end ice cream route has always been high-risk and high-reward in China.
Look at Häagen-Dazs and Zhong Xue Gao, two once-popular brands that are now retreating. What Magnum needs to do now is to steadily catch the traffic they leave behind. This not only concerns its position in the Chinese market but also determines how much initiative it can hold in the M&A deal.


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