LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) co-founder Ben

Cohen said on Tuesday that the ice cream brand had, amid tension

with it parent Unilever ( UL ), tried to engineer a sale to investors

at a fair market value between $1.5-$2.5 billion, which had been

knocked back.

"Unilever ( UL ) wasn't willing to consider that," Cohen told

Reuters after a protest outside a Unilever ( UL ) investor event linked

to a planned listing of the company's broader Magnum ice cream

unit that contains Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) and brands like Cornetto.

Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) seized the spotlight on Unilever's ( UL ) ice cream

unit on Tuesday to renew a call for its own spin-off ahead of a

planned listing of the larger business in November after years

of clashing over the U.S. brand's vocal position on Gaza.

"We're essentially saying to the Magnum Ice Cream Company

and to those investors that they're talking to today at that

hotel: this is a crazy investment if what you're buying is Ben &

Jerry's ( UL ) brand equity," he said. "A lot of it is based on the

social mission and the founders being aligned and on board."

"Let Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) be Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) and let Magnum be Magnum

and everything works," Cohen said. "But it's never going to work

if the values of the owner of Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) are opposed to the

values of Ben & Jerry's ( UL )."