RFM Corporation, Unilever Ice Cream Strengthen 25-Year Joint Venture

​RFM Corporation CEO Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III recently hosted the top management meeting of the Unilever-RFM Corporation joint venture and local maker and seller of Selecta, Magnum, Cornetto ice cream brands as the JV reaffirmed its commitment to the Philippine ice cream market. Unilever is a global ice cream giant with over P480B in global ice cream sales under the brands Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum, Wall’s and Cornetto, among others.

Concepcion said that RFM is eyeing stronger performance from the partnership with the global ice cream segment of Unilever under President Peter ter Kulve. Both industry titans acknowledged the immense growth potential of the Philippines as a consumer and ice cream market.

The Selecta Ice Cream brand itself has a long history, which started with the Arce family in the late 1940’s which was eventually bought by RFM Corporation under Joey Concepcion in 1990. Under RFM, the Selecta ice cream brand further flourished into a strong national ice cream brand that featured endorsers like Sharon Cuneta, Aga Mulach, Vhong Navarro, Piolo Pascual, Luis Manzano, Sarah Geronimo and many other stars over the years.

In 1999, the joint venture Unilever RFM Ice Cream (URIC) Inc. was born when RFM Corporation’s Selecta Ice Cream business and Unilever joined forces to level up the ice cream experience of Philippine consumers with new brands like Magnum and Cornetto.

Today, the Unilever RFM Ice Cream partnership is a leading player in the industry, consistently ranking among Unilever's top-performing ice cream businesses globally and placing the Philippines within its top ten markets.

​Joey Concepcion noted the significance of the ice cream joint venture with Unilever to RFM’s growth story. The CEO of the listed food and beverage company (PSE: RFM) said that RFM shareholders can expect continued growth thru innovations from Unilever’s global ice cream R&D, new brands and updated consumer insights alongside the local entrepreneurship spirit from RFM management. The ice cream segment is about one-third of the total revenues of RFM Corporation and stands as key anchor of the RFM growth story.