Is Unilever in Play?

Shares in Unilever rose more than 2 percent Wednesday on speculation in the market that Colgate-Palmolive Co. may be interested in all or part of the consumer products maker.

Unilever, the owner of brands such as Knorr soup, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

“We do not comment on rumors as a matter of policy,” said Allison Klimerman, a Colgate-Palmolive spokeswoman.

Shares in Unilever rose 2.2 percent in London to close at 1,683 pence ($33.96), putting the company’s market capitalization at about 22.1 billion pounds ($44.6 billion).

That followed a gain of 1.9 percent a day earlier, when food companies were lifted by French yogurt and water company Danone SA’s $16.75 billion bid for Dutch nutritional business Royal Numico NV.

“It has long been believed that (Unilever) would like to acquire (Colgate-Palmolive) someday, and that there would be substantial cost synergies, especially in Latin America, where both companies have strong market positions,” said analysts at Oppenheimer in a research note. “The reverse situation — that (Colgate-Palmolive) acquire (Unilever) — is less expected.”

Unilever had said in February that full-year net profit rose 26 percent to 4.75 billion euros ($6.17 billion), while sales rose 3.1 percent to 39.6 billion euros.

A poor performance after the turn of the century led to a management shake up at Unilever in 2004. Since then, the company has been targeting sales growth by investing heavily in its biggest brands while trying to maintain or slightly increase margins.