Nearly 160 years ago, William Breyer started hand-churning ice cream in Philadelphia. His creation, which he sold to his neighbors, was made in a huge bucket equipped using a paddle that was operated by an outside handle.

Today, Breyers is part of an $18.4 billion ice cream unit within Unilever, which is looking to sell or spin off as the segment is sluggish, write Dasha Afanasieva and Sabah Meddings for Bloomberg.

However, the timing of the sale is less than ideal for Hein Schumacher, chief executive officer of Unilever.

PAI Partners, a private equity group, is already working on selling or floating its 50 percent stake in Froneri. The global number-two ice cream business is considered by some as more innovative and better run.

“It’s an interesting time for Unilever to decide to do this,” said Chirag Pandya, a partner at McKinsey & Co. “Froneri is going to be a lot more attractive for investors. Froneri has the opportunity of new markets, new channels, whereas Unilever is already global.”

However, Unilever still holds a fifth of the global ice cream market share and also owns three of the world’s five biggest brands.

Read more about the potential sale of Breyers in Bloomberg.

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