The Vegetarian Butcher plant-based meat brand has reportedly been put up for sale by Unilever.
Unilever declined to comment as sources for Sky News suggested today (26 November) the consumer goods giant had hired investment bank Piper Sandler to oversee a disposal. The unnamed sources said a ‘number of potential buyers’ had already been approached.
Originating from the Netherlands, The Vegetarian Butcher was set up in 2007 by meat-farmer-turned-vegetarian Jaap Korteweg. He then sold the business to Unilever in 2018 for an undisclosed sum.
Another report emerged earlier this month that said Unilever was seeking to sell a clutch of Dutch food brands, including Unox and Conimex, and had hired ABN Amro for the process. Unilever declined to comment on that report from Reuters at the time.
Prior to buying The Vegetarian Butcher, Unilever had worked with the business since 2016 producing a range of sauce-based vegetarian meatballs marketed under the Unox line.
The Vegetarian Butcher supplies products including plant-based burgers and sausages to retailers and the foodservice channel.
While the plant-based meat category has seen growth slow and manufacturers go out of business in recent years, Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher is focusing on brands such as Hellmann’s mayonnaise to drive growth and volumes.
At an annual investor event last Friday (22 November), Schumacher’s presentation highlighted how Unilever's "power brands" had registered 4.1% volume growth over the first nine months of the 2024 financial year. That compared to 2.9% for Unilever overall.
Under the ‘Growth Action Plan 2030’ he has introduced since becoming CEO in July 2023, Schumacher said at last week’s event that he is seeking to offload £1bn ($1.2bn) worth of brands.
One such category is ice cream, although Unilever is now favouring a demerger of that business into a separate listed entity rather than pursue a sale. The target for that spin-off is by the end of 2025.
It also emerged today, that Unilever has put in motion the demerger and listing of its ice-cream unit in India, which sits under listed arm Hindustan Unilever. A similar process has also started for ice cream in Indonesia.
