Kraft Foods encouraged to increase Cadbury offer
Despite the fact that the Cadbury board has refused to even contemplate a bid from Kraft Foods, currently pitched around £7.50 a share, it seems as though investors in the UK chocolate giant are more than happy to talk numbers. At a time when the Cadbury's directors are looking towards the takeover panel to issue a "put up or shut up" notice to Kraft Foods, institutional investors have made it known that they would be willing to accept £8.50 a share. So what will happen next?
While the move by the Cadbury directors was to be expected, with the uncertainty and confusion helping nobody, the fact that institutional shareholders are making their thoughts known already could make it difficult for Cadbury to stay independent. However, whether or not we see a potential £11 billion offer there is no doubt that this saga still has some way to go and even at this stage we could see the introduction of a "white knight".
Many people believed that the Cadbury takeover bid would be the beginning of a number of similar acquisitions although as yet we have yet to see any rumours ring true regarding potential multibillion pound bids.
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