(Bloomberg) -- Amsterdam may beat London to a potential €17 billion ($18.4 billion) listing of Unilever Plc’s ice cream unit, according to the CEO of the consumer goods company.

The Netherlands has “a good chance” of hosting the division after it’s spun out of the company, Chief Executive Officer Hein Schumacher told the Buitenhof TV show on Sunday, in comments that will intensify the competition between the two cities. 

“The most likely route is to split off with a separate stock exchange listing and its own head office,” he said, adding that the division is currently run from the Netherlands.

The consumer goods conglomerate announced plans to restructure its business last week, as new CEO Schumacher seeks to reverse years of lackluster performance. 

Read More: Unilever CEO Steps Up With Plan to Shed Ben & Jerry’s, Jobs 

While Unilever has not decided where the division that owns the Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum brands will list, the Dutch government wants the company to follow through on a promise it made four years ago that it would choose the Netherlands if it ever listed its wider food business. 

Both London and Amsterdam have ailing stock markets beset by underperformance and a dearth of initial public offerings. 

London’s IPO activity in 2023 was the lowest in decades, while Amsterdam had no listings last year, marking its worst performance since 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Listings in both cities slowed down over the last two years amid rising interest rates.

In the UK, some major companies are looking to switch from London to rival financial centers, including British chip-maker Arm Holdings Plc, prompting politicians and regulators to suggest measures to improve the City’s competitiveness. 

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt held talks with fast fashion label Shein about a possible flotation in a bid to boost London’s flagging profile, Bloomberg reported in February. He has also called on UK retail investors to help revive UK markets with a plan for a so-called British ISA, a tax-free savings account for investing in UK equities. 

Attractive Environment 

One condition of choosing a Dutch listing is that the business climate remains attractive, Schumacher said. “The Netherlands is very high on all competition lists in this area. But we have seen some surprises in recent years,” he said, citing changes to the tax benefit for expatriates. 

The Dutch Finance Ministry is already working on some proposals to ease his concerns. The government will present an outline to the parliament this week on alternatives to the bank and share buyback taxes as well as to the winding-down of the expat tax break, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

“A predictable government and regulations are very important,” Schumacher said. The Dutchman, who took over from Briton Alan Jope last year, said an initial public offering is one of several options and a decision will be made in the next 18 months.

Read More: UK-Dutch Rivalry Returns for Unilever Ice Cream Listing 

In 2018, Unilever abandoned a plan to leave the UK for a single headquarters in the Netherlands amid shareholder outcry. The decision was a blow to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who worked as a human resources manager at Unilever in the 1990s and expended significant political capital to lure the company. 

Unilever sealed plans to base itself in the UK in 2020, but said in a letter to the Dutch government at the time that if it ever spun off its foods and refreshment unit, it would list it in the Netherlands, provided it remained an attractive location for business. Ice cream was later separated from that division.

--With assistance from Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Alexandra Muller.

(Updates with additional information throughout.)

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