Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is planning to list its demerged ice cream business on BSE and NSE. Moving forward in this direction, the company approved this proposal in the board meeting held today on 22 January. As part of the listing, the company announced a share ratio of 1:1 to its existing shareholders. This means that existing shareholders of HUL will get one additional share of the ice cream business after the listing for every share they hold.
What did HUL say in its exchange filing?
Shareholders of the FMCG company will get one equity share in the new entity for each share held by them, HUL said in an exchange filing. Post the demerger, the new entity Quality Walls (India) Limited will operate as an independent and publicly listed company.
The company’s board had approved the demerger in November 2024 following the recommendation of an independent committee formed in September 2024. The committee observed that the ice cream business, which includes popular brands such as Kwality Walls, Cornetto and Magnum, has a unique operating model. This requires specialized cold chain infrastructure and separate distribution channels, which is separate from the rest of HUL’s operations.
The demerger is in line with the global strategy of HUL’s parent company, Unilever PLC, which had earlier announced its intention to separate its ice cream business into multiple segments. The company said in a statement that the turnover of the ice cream business for the year ending March 31, 2024 stood at Rs 1595 crore, which is 2.7 percent of the total standalone business of the company.