Maizena is owned by Unilever (the United Kingdom, LSE: ULVR), which acquired the brand on 4 October 2000 from Bestfoods, as part of a $24.3 billion deal that also included Hellmann's and Knorr.[1][2] Before Unilever, Maizena was owned by Bestfoods to 2000.[1]
Evidence: Unilever PLC Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2025, SEC EDGAR, 12 March 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Maizena is the corn starch brand Unilever sells in Latin America, Spain and parts of Europe, used as a thickener in cooking and as a base for custards and desserts. The brand descends from the Corn Products Refining Company and reached Unilever through the acquisition of Bestfoods in 2000.
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central.
The USPTO record for the Maizena mark lists CONOPCO, INC. as the owner of record (serial number 71482615). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[3]
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Unilever ownership tree →
See the full Unilever brand portfolio (53) →
Unilever controls 53 brands on Brandtree, 11 of them in food.
The 72 brands in baking mixes & ingredients on Brandtree belong to 45 owners. The largest is Bidco Africa, with 5.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Cowboy | Bidco Africa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| EXE | Unga Group | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| Golden Penny | Flour Mills of Nigeria | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
| Al Horra | Lesieur Cristal | 🇲🇦 Morocco |
| Florencia | Molino Cañuelas | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| Amuleia | Nisshin Seifun | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Clabber Girl | B&G Foods | 🇺🇸 United States |
| BUA Sugar | BUA Foods | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
Unilever is a publicly listed company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, founded in 1929. Brandtree records 53 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: ULVR, NYSE: UL and AEX: UNA.
Unilever is a British consumer goods company formed in 1929 by the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers. It reports through four business groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care and Foods. Its ice cream business was demerged as The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December 2025.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Maizena among them.
Unilever acquired Bestfoods, the American food group behind Knorr and Hellmann's, in what was then the largest cash acquisition in the food industry. The European Commission cleared the deal in Phase I subject to divestiture commitments.
The European Commission cleared Unilever's acquisition of Bestfoods in Phase I on 28 September 2000 under Article 6(1)(b) with conditions and obligations, after the parties offered divestitures. The case was notified on 16 August 2000 under the then-applicable Council Regulation 4064/89.
The parent company of Maizena is Unilever, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Maizena originated in the United States in 1856, but it is owned today by Unilever, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So Maizena is an American-origin brand under British ownership.
Unilever completed its acquisition of Maizena on 4 October 2000, after announcing the deal on 6 June 2000. The deal, which also included Hellmann's and Knorr, was valued at $24.3 billion (enterprise value).
Before Unilever, Maizena was owned by Bestfoods until 2000.
Yes. As of 26 September 2026, Maizena is still owned by Unilever. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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