REPORT: Unilever is looking at selling some of its food brands for $7.44 billion

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Flora margerine

Wikimedia Commons

Flora margarine could be on the chopping block.

Unilever is preparing a 6 billion pound ($7.44 billion) sale of some of its food brands, British newspapers reported on Saturday, without citing sources.

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The Anglo-Dutch company is planning to sell Flora margarine and Stork butter brands, the Sunday Times said. The Sunday Telegraph, which also cited a 6 billion pounds figure, said unnamed parties were preparing to buy the brands.

The maker of Hellmann's mayonnaise, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and Dove toiletries rebuffed a surprise $143 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz last month.

Kraft's offer of $50 per share valued Unilever around $143 billion and represented an 18% premium on the company's value, but Unilever said the offer undervalued it. A merger between the two companies would have been one of the largest in history.

The company has launched a business review to consider returning cash to shareholders, making medium-sized acquisitions and more aggressive cost cuts, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

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Unilever owns an array of brands from food and beverages (including Becel and Lipton tea) to home and personal care (including Vaseline and Axe).

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