Brands sold to KKR, a private equity firm, include Flora, ProActiv, Becel, Country Crock, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and and Blueband.
Although the spreads business was profitable for Unilever, with margins of about 20%, the firm wants to concentrate its marketing resources on products that closely fit its vision.
In particular, Unilever has been growing formerly niche brands like Pukka Herbs tea into mainstream brands to accelerate growth. It's also investing in personal care brands that are growing quickly and launching a number of new products for highly targeted customer segments within specific geographic markets.
This updates the Unilever examples in Essential Guide to Marketing Planning 4th edn.
