LONDON, March 30, 2026, 14:16 BST
Unilever PLC kicked off trading in London at 4,500 pence on Monday. McCormick is set to release its first-quarter numbers on March 31, following a Reuters report from March 27 that said any potential merger talks would likely result in Unilever shareholders holding the majority of the new entity.
Timing is key here. If this deal goes through, it would be Unilever’s biggest portfolio shakeup since splitting off its Magnum ice cream unit last December. Chief Executive Fernando Fernandez is doubling down on pushing Unilever deeper into faster-expanding beauty, personal care, and wellbeing categories. Still, foods accounted for 26% of turnover in 2025, even as Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care outpaced it in growth.
On March 20, Unilever confirmed it had been approached with an offer for its Foods division and was in talks with McCormick. The company emphasized that the unit is still a “highly attractive business” and cautioned that a deal is far from guaranteed. McCormick, for its part, acknowledged the ongoing discussions in its own statement that day, adding it wouldn’t provide further updates unless required. Unilever
The setup on the table is a reverse Morris trust—a spin-off strategy that’s well-known for its tax perks when merging two businesses. According to Reuters, this method would hand Unilever shareholders over half the combined company and steer clear of change-of-control taxes.
That math keeps dragging the market’s attention back to the deal. Barclays has pegged the food business at €28 billion to €31 billion with debt, far ahead of McCormick’s total value of about $18 billion, also including debt. Unilever’s own numbers for 2025 show the Foods division posted 2.5% growth last year, making up 26% of the company’s turnover.
This isn’t a minor operation. Knorr, Hellmann’s, Marmite—these are part of the portfolio, and Reuters puts last year’s operating profit at roughly 2.9 billion euros. Still, growth in this segment hasn’t kept up with Unilever’s beauty and personal care unit.
Analysts see why the deal makes sense industrially, but they warn the margin for error is slim. TD Cowen’s Robert Moskow pointed to “strong strategic logic” behind a merger, and GlobalData’s Neil Saunders described McCormick as a “natural fit” operationally. The challenge, Quilter Cheviot’s Chris Beckett added, lies in hammering out a price and structure that both shareholder groups will accept. Reuters
Here’s the tricky part. Davis Householder at MycoManagement told Reuters that splitting off a global food platform from Unilever’s supply chain and distribution—without damaging its brands—won’t be easy. And on March 29, the Wall Street Journal flagged that big food deals have a shaky record of delivering value as consumers keep moving toward store brands, healthier picks, and less processed fare.
Fresh rivalry is back in the picture. Earlier this month, Reuters said Unilever and Kraft Heinz had discussed merging parts of their food operations, but talks fizzled out—another sign that major packaged-food players are still chasing size as growth slows. McCormick’s 2017 acquisition of Reckitt Benckiser’s food unit also has investors eyeing it as a possible acquirer.
Fernandez stepped in this March, but questions linger over whether the revamped group can perform without resorting to another drawn-out carve-out. Back in February, Unilever warned that 2026 sales growth probably lands near the lower bound of its 4% to 6% multi-year target, citing weaker demand out of the U.S. and Europe.
Up ahead, McCormick will post its first-quarter numbers on March 31, with Unilever following with its own trading update set for April 30. Those dates could bring fresh scrutiny on deal appetite, timing, and price.
