--- title: "Britain is flogging off yet another beloved brand" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/297424669.md" description: "Unilever is selling the historic British brand Colman's Mustard, raising concerns about the loss of national heritage. The article argues that Britain lacks protective measures for iconic brands compared to Italy, the US, and France, which safeguard strategic assets. It criticizes the trend of selling beloved British brands to foreign conglomerates, citing examples like Cadbury and Jaguar Land Rover, suggesting this weakens local ties and product identity." datetime: "2026-08-30T11:08:08.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/297424669.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297424669.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/297424669.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Britain is flogging off yet another beloved brand KitKats, created by Rowntree’s, are now made by Nestlé, of Switzerland. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, and the rest of its brands, are now manufactured by Mondelēz International of the United States. Jaguar Land Rover is owned by India’s Tata, while even HP Sauce is now brought to your local greasy spoon cafe courtesy of Heinz Kraft. We have long been used to some of the most beloved British brands being sold off to foreign conglomerates. Now it appears that Colman’s Mustard, and even Marmite, may join the list. The Italians, the Americans and certainly the French would never allow their most valuable brands to be sold abroad in such a cavalier fashion. It is time Britain started protecting the few we have left, because very soon it will be too late. There can be few more quintessentially English products than Colman’s. The fiery, tangy mustard goes perfectly with a full English breakfast, especially if your head is a little worse the wear after a heavy night, but it is hard to see it fitting any other kind of cuisine. It emerged last week that Unilever is putting the brand up for sale as part of the clean-up of its sprawling empire. Bankers have been appointed to find a buyer for the brand as part of the wider deal to merge its food business with the American spice giant McCormick. Apparently there is a risk of a “mustard monopoly”, given that it already owns the popular American brand French’s, although it is hard to believe regulators could really argue that Colman’s was really the same product as the insipid, tasteless yellow liquid created on the other side of the Atlantic. We will have to see what happens as the sale process gets under way. But whether it is a private equity firm or another food conglomerate the chances are that it will be sold abroad. Arguably Marmite will as well, given that McCormick will control the brand, although it will be majority owned by Unilever’s shareholders. Control of another celebrated brand will have left these shores. There is no point in blaming Unilever for that. The company has been long overdue a radical overhaul after years of underperformance, when it seemed to care more about social activism than selling more soap or mayonnaise. What happens to all the heritage wrapped up in the Colman’s brand? The mustard was created by Jeremiah Colman way back in the early 1800s, and by the 1820s it had become J & J Colman. From its Norwich base, it was one of the first great food brands of the industrial revolution, pioneering a model that was eventually copied all over the world. Will all of that be preserved when one of the private equity firms gets its hands on it? Probably lots of promises will be made when the papers are signed, but they should be taken with a large pinch of salt (or mustard). Very few of those kinds of pledges are ever stuck to. In reality, very few countries have been as happy as Britain has been to flog off their most valuable brands to anyone who feels like getting their chequebook out. Italy has its “golden powers regime” designed to protect assets of strategic national relevance. The United States has the Committee on Foreign Investment that can block deals, and there is little question the Trump White House would use it to stop the sale of Coca-Cola or Oreos. And France of course, has laws to protect national assets, and in the past has used them to protect the yogurt manufacturer Danone from a foreign stake-holding. In most countries, the sale of a brand as historic as Colman’s would provoke a furious debate. Here in Britain we just let the investment bankers get on with hawking it around to the highest bidder. That is not good enough. Sure, we all believe in a free market in corporate assets. But you hardly have to agree with Andy Burnham, with his student union tirades about “ending 40 years of neoliberalism” to wonder if the sell-off has not gone too far. After all, it is hard to see that any of the brands have been improved by their foreign owners. Cadbury has lost much of the magic that once made it special. HP Sauce has, perhaps unsurprisingly, failed to conquer the world, while the less that is said about Jaguar Land Rover the better. If the foreign owner were taking all the heritage, and using it to build global mega-brands, with everyone from San Francisco to Shanghai queuing up for a bar of Dairy Milk, then it would be worthwhile. But it hasn’t happened. Instead, ties with what were once their local communities have been weakened, and products have lost their identity. True, KitKats are still made in York, but Nestlé cut more than 400 jobs at the factory in April, while Cadbury’s closed its Bristol plant years ago. That might have happened under local management. But if we are being honest it would have been less likely. It doesn’t have to work out like this. There is nothing wrong with Unilever selling Colman’s. But it would be perfectly possible for the Government to insist on a British buyer. There are plenty of food companies or UK based investors that might well be interested so long as the price was reasonable. In fact, there is one natural buyer. Perhaps Unilever should be encouraged by ministers to sell it to Reckitt, the company that used to be known as Reckitt & Colman after it merged with J & J Colman in 1938. It is a well-managed business, with plenty of experience of running a portfolio of brands. And most of all, Colman’s would remain a British owned brand – which is exactly what it should be. ### Related Stocks - [UL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/UL.US.md) - [ULVR.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/ULVR.UK.md) - [NSRGY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NSRGY.US.md) - [MDLZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MDLZ.US.md) - [MKC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MKC.US.md) - [KO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KO.US.md) - [DANOY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DANOY.US.md) - [NSRGF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NSRGF.US.md) - [MKC.V.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MKC.V.US.md) - [BSN.DE](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BSN.DE.md) ## Related News & Research - [Zenas BioPharma files Form 3 showing InnoCare Pharma stake of 7 million shares](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298305393.md) - [Super Hi International files Form 3 initial beneficial ownership statement for CFO Li Lu](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298301990.md) - [Zillow director Claire Cormier Thielke sells 1,187 common shares for $42,390.77](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298077155.md) - [Morgan Stanley cuts Teleperformance stake to 4.82%](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298329276.md) - [Morgan Stanley lifts Teleperformance stake above 5% threshold to 5.09%](https://longbridge.com/en/news/298054921.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**