Unilever sells iconic Dutch brands Unox and Zwan

Unilever is selling its Dutch brands Unox and Zwan to the Zwanenberg Food Group. The multinational wants to focus on its thirty strongest brands and had been looking to sell smaller, local icons like these two for a while.

A “difficult decision”

The sale is part of a wider strategic restructuring, as Unilever is increasingly concentrating on fewer but larger brands and wants to develop in segments such as snacks and sauces. Unox’ instant noodles and Cup-a-Soup will therefore remain in the Unilever portfolio. CEO Heike Schipper said the exit of Unox was a “difficult decision”, according to Dutch media, due in part to the brand’s cultural links with some Dutch traditions.

Zwanenberg is familiar territory for Unox: in 2017, Unilever sold the plant that produced Unox smoked sausages and pea soups to the Dutch company. The FMCG giant now says that Unox and Zwan’s soups and meat products require a specialised supply chain, which is able to make rapid adjustments in production capacity difficult and is therefore inconsistent with Unilever’s future strategy. The transaction is expected to be completed in the course of next year.

The sale of Unox and Zwan comes just days after the announcement of the sale of the Conimex brand, which specialises in Asian dishes, to a Finnish food company. Unilever has also been considering the sell-off of its ice cream brands, including Magnum, Ola and Ben & Jerry’s, for some time. So far, however, Unilever has not found a buyer for this division.