Linklaters advised Unilever on the sale of assets used for the manufacturing of spreads products in its Polish factory in Katowice to Upfield (Manufacturing) Polska sp. z o.o., a company from the KKR group. The transaction was part of a global sales process of Unilever's spreads business with operations in 66 countries worldwide, which includes brands such as Becel, Flora, Country Crock, Blue Band, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Rama and ProActiv. It was the largest leveraged buyout in Europe in 2017 and one of the largest private equity deals of 2017. The Polish part of the transaction closed on 1 January 2019.

The advice that Linklaters provided covered all legal aspects related to negotiating and concluding agreements on the basis of which Upfield (Manufacturing) Polska sp. z o.o. gained control over part of Unilever's Polish factory in Katowice which manufactures the spreads products.

The core legal team in Poland included Daniel Cousens, partner, Klaudia Krolak, managing associate and Lukasz Burakowski, associate, from the corporate M&A practice as well as Janusz Dzianachowski, partner, Ewa Sinkiewicz, associate and Justyna Glinka, junior associate from the real estate practice. The team was supported by Marta Bryjak, senior associate from the projects practice.