REPORT: Unilever is looking at selling some of its food brands for $7.44 billion
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.
Unilever owns an array of brands from food and beverages (including Becel and Lipton tea) to home and personal care (including Vaseline and Axe).