Hogan Lovells, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Clifford Chance and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz are advising on food condiment-giant McCormick’s $44.8bn acquisition of Unilever’s food division.
Hogan Lovells and Cleary are advising McCormick while Wachtell and Clifford Chance are counselling Unilever on the transaction.
The deal will see Unilever combine its food brands such as Knorr soups and Hellmann’s mayonnaise and other condiments with McCormick’s line of sauces and spices, including Cholula, French’s and Schwartz.
Unilever and its shareholders will receive a mix of McCormick stock worth about $29.1bn and $15.7bn in cash, giving Unilever shareholders a 55.1% stake in the combined company, with Unilever owning 9.9% and McCormick shareholders 35%.
The deal is expected to close by mid-2027, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
The Hogan Lovells team advising McCormick on the deal was led by London-based M&A partners Tom Brassington and Caitlin Weeks alongside antitrust partner Alice Wallace-Wright and tax partner Philip Harle.
Brassington said: “This is a transformative transaction for McCormick and a defining deal for the global food industry. We were very proud to support McCormick on a matter of this scale and complexity.”
The Cleary M&A team is led by partners Glenn McGrory and Charles Allen in New York and partner Dan Tierney in London.
Also on the deal are partners Amanda Toy and Michael Albano (executive compensation and benefits matters); Jason Factor and Swift Edgar (US tax matters); Richard Sultman (UK tax matters); Brian Byrne and Blair Matthews (antitrust); Duane McLaughlin (financial matters); Francesca Odell and Helena Grannis (capital markets); Daniel Ilan and Gareth Kristensen (IP and data privacy matters); Chase Kaniecki (sanctions and trade control matters); and Beau Sterling (environmental, health and safety matters).
Meanwhile, Clifford Chance’s team advising Unilever was led by M&A partners Melissa Fogarty and Dominic Ross. They were supported by M&A partners Alanna Hunter and Harriet Martin; antitrust partner Sue Hinchliffe; separation partner Zayed Al Jamil; IP partner Stephen Reese; tax partner Nicola Hemsley; employment partner Chinwe Odimba-Chapman; pensions partner Clare Hoxey; incentives partner Andrew Patterson and real estate partner Alis Pay.
The Wachtell team was led by corporate partners Ben Roth and Jenna Levine, while the Unilever deal team was led by chief legal officer Prakash Kakkad and global head of M&A Ritesh Tiwari.
Brendan Foley, McCormick’s chairman, president and CEO, said: “This transformative combination accelerates McCormick’s strategy and reinforces our continued focus on flavour. The Unilever Foods business is one we have long admired, with a portfolio that complements our existing business, capabilities and long-term vision.”
The sale of Unilever’s food business to McCormick follows the company’s spin out of its ice-cream business last year as it seeks to focus on its home and personal care product line, which includes brands such as Dove, Axe, Domestos, Cif and Surf.
Fernando Fernández, CEO of Unilever, said: “For Unilever, this transaction is another decisive step in sharpening our portfolio and accelerating our strategy towards high-growth categories as a €39bn pureplay HPC company with a proven sector-leading growth profile.”
Linklaters was the sole legal adviser on Unilever’s ice-cream demerger last year, which created the Magnum Ice Cream Company.
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