The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has made an announcement to suspend operations by the end of this year as global ice cream brand Magnum evicted them from their offices and cut their funding.

According to the business, the closure is scheduled for the end of the year unless it receives a favourable ruling in an ongoing legal case against the brand.

This move is part of the latest escalation in an ongoing dispute over Ben & Jerry’s governance, social mission and relationship with its parent company.

In April, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen had delivered over 100,000 signatures to Magnum’s Amsterdam headquarters as part of an ongoing campaign to allow the brand to operate independently from the parent company.

The founder of the brand has been pushing towards full control of the company, arguing that Magnum conflicts with its social values.

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The foundation has been operational since 1985, when the ice cream brand went public, and is committed to philanthropic efforts.

Cohen commented on the closure of the foundation: “The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was founded in order to use the highest percentage of profits of any publicly held corporation to fund grassroots organisations working for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

“A critical founding principle was that the foundation needed to be totally independent of the company — that its grants could not be determined based on what would be best for Ben & Jerry’s, but rather what would be best for people who were suffering.

“For Magnum Corporation to now be shutting down the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is a profound betrayal of everything it was created to stand for. And I will do everything I can to oppose this abuse of power and help Magnum to see the light.”