The talks would put the ice-cream brand under an employee stock-ownership plan, the Wall Street Journal reported. Magnum, which owns the brand, said it is not for sale.
Ben & Jerry's founders want their company back, and they have found a private-equity executive with a model for how to do it.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have been discussing with Pete Stavros, global co-head of private equity at KKR, a deal to separate Ben & Jerry's from its owner, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, and place it under an employee stock-ownership plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Stavros also founded Ownership Works, a nonprofit that promotes employee ownership, and Expanding ESOPs, a coalition with the same aim.
Magnum said: "Ben & Jerry's is not for sale."
No price, financing plan or role for any KKR fund has been disclosed, and any transaction would need Magnum's agreement.
The model
Stavros is best known for championing broad-based employee ownership at companies KKR has bought, where workers receive equity alongside the firm. An ESOP would give rank-and-file employees stock, held through a trust, the Journal reported.
For the founders, the appeal is an owner structure built around the people who run the business rather than around a parent company's portfolio of brands.
The obstacle
The obstacle is equally clear. Magnum, spun off from Unilever as a separately listed ice-cream company, owns the brand and says it is not selling. A newly listed company has little reason to give up a well-known business without a price that justifies it.
Cohen's willingness to discuss the idea on the record is itself a cost for Magnum, however. A long dispute with the founders of one of its brands would be a distraction for a company still establishing itself with investors.
Two readings
One reading is that this is the start of a real negotiation. The founders have an experienced partner in Stavros, a structure with precedent, and a public airing that raises the cost to Magnum of saying no indefinitely.
The other is that it is exploratory and likely to stay that way. The owner has said no, no financing or price has been put forward, and an employee buyout of a global consumer brand would require substantial capital that no one has yet committed.
What to watch
Any formal proposal or price, whether a KKR fund or other investors become involved, Magnum's response in its next results, and any change in the brand's governance arrangements.