Unilever Delays Ice-Cream Spinoff, Citing U.S. Shutdown

By Aimee Look

Unilever said it is pushing back the planned demerger of its ice cream business, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, citing the U.S. federal government shutdown.

The U.K. consumer-goods group said Tuesday that it is committed to completing the spinoff this year. The company had initially planned the listing of Magnum on Euronext Amsterdam, the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange for Nov. 10.

Because of the U.S. government shutdown, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won't be able to declare effective a U.S. registration statement required for Magnum to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Unilever said.

Unilever said it would provide specific dates on the spinoff when practicable. This was included as a risk in a shareholder circular distributed earlier this month, it added.

A shareholder meeting to vote on the spinoff is still scheduled for Tuesday, Unilever said.

Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com