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Will you miss the British Cadbury?
What will become of the Curly Wurly?
After an interminably long stand-off, U.S. food giant Kraft has agreed a deal to buy British confectioner Cadbury for 11.9 billion pounds.
While the announcement that an agreement had finally been reached hardly came as a surprise, it has provoked an outpouring of consternation and sentimental musing on message boards and social media sites like Twitter.com
A fourth generation member of Cadbury’s founding family, Felicity Loudon, expressed dismay that the iconic sweet maker, with brands such as Flake, Twirl and Wispa, should sell out to a “plastic cheese company” and some members of the general public have expressed similar concerns.
@CharmedLassie, writing on Twitter, said: “If there’s any chance we can stop Cadbury being taken over by Kraft we should take it. This is another sad step out of the UK.” Another user, @ClareCarney wrote: “No! It’s the end of an era!”
On a lighter note, journalist Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) posted: “Gordon Brown should have nationalised Cadbury, and given everyone a free Twirl = shoe-in at the next election.”
‘Cadbury’ is currently one of the most talked about topics on Twitter and hundreds of users have signed up to the ‘I love Cadbury’ campaign on the micro-blogging site.
from DealZone:
Cadbury kisses off Hershey
Whatever his motives, Warren Buffett’s influence can be seen in Cadbury’s share price, which have dipped below the level of Kraft’s $17 billion bid for the first time. The sagging share price shows, among other things, that the market believes Kraft is more likely to make its 50.1 percent acceptance rate without having to aggressively raise its bid.
Analysts still see Kraft having to sweeten the deal, but not as much as they had previously suggested. Also weighing on Cadbury’s stock is the cold water splashing over prospects for a rival bid from Hershey. Cadbury said it was not looking for a white knight bidder and analysts are not convinced Hershey can finance a takeover.
Hershey may not be able to pull off a deal on its own as a white knight, but that doesn’t completely rule out it taking a significant stake in Cadbury. If other big strategic investors were so inclined, and could perhaps tempt some interest from private equity, they could well put together a bloc to scuttle Kraft’s efforts. It might not even take much effort, given the loud, angry way Buffett – Kraft’s biggest share holder -- slammed the door on raising the bid.
So if they aren’t holding out for a white knight, perhaps Cadbury execs are hoping more for a carmel cavalry.
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The Wall
If Kraft were a company with quality products then perhaps this takeover would not be opposed so much. But the stuff it calls cheese is vile and its chocolate biscuits must be a major contributor to obseity in America. Kadbury’s is doomed.