The silence is deafening from Cadbury
As we covered yesterday, American food giant Kraft Foods would appear to be the only potential bidder for UK chocolate manufacture Cadbury at this moment in time. Amid rumours that the company is looking to launch a £10.5 billion offer for Cadbury the silence has been deafening from other potential bidders and Cadbury management themselves. So what is going on?
Up until now it was never 100% certain that Kraft Foods would actually make an offer, and indeed there are still some doubts in the marketplace, but it looks highly likely that an offer will be made in due course. Even though there have been rumours of Unilever and other third parties possibly entering the fray at some point, there is no "meat on the bone" as yet and many people believe there is every chance that no other bidder will emerge. This would then leave the door open for Kraft Foods to offer a "competitive" takeover price rather than a "knockout price" which many people had been hoping for and expecting.
Whatever happens we are certain to see some movement over the next 10 days as we head towards the deadline set by the panel on takeovers and mergers, at which point
Kraft Foods will either be forced to "put up or shut up".
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