Nestlé has the cash but does it have the conviction?
Nestlé has today announced the sale of its stake in eye-care group Alcon for a reputed £17 billion, which has led to intense speculation that this will form the war-chest needed to enter the bidding for Cadbury. While Nestlé has so far been quiet on its plans for the future it is known that behind-the-scenes the company has already discussed a potential acquisition of Cadbury and is said to be awaiting the best time to pounce. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen but speculation about the future of Cadbury continues to intensify.
While £17 billion is obviously more than enough to acquire Cadbury, with the current Kraft Foods bid valued at around £10 billion, it is interesting to see the timing of the share sale by Nestlé. Has the group being in contact with Cadbury about a potential white knight bid? Has the group even discussed a potential takeover with the Cadbury board?
As you would expect with a lack of news flow in the financial markets over the New Year period even the most innocent of potential moves can often take on a life of their own. However, it should be back to normal this week and we should start to see the Cadbury saga firm up.
Share this..
Related stories
Mortgages continue record run
Britain's mortgage lending notched up another monthly record in March, new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reveal.After monthly records in January and February, March continued 2007's record-breaking performance with £31.3 billion lent in mortgages last month.That represents a 22 per cent increase from February's figure of £24.6 billion, which was lower because of seasonal shi...
Read MoreIs the UK government concentrating too much on politics?
This weekend saw the emergence of what has to be one of the most disturbing stories in politics over the last decade. It would appear that at least two employees of the Labour Party/government had been plotting to destabilise the Conservative opposition party with potentially libellous stories and innuendo. Without going into too much detail regarding the content of the e-mails which were leaked t...
Read MoreBarclays Bank set to go it alone
We recently covered the story of Barclays Bank and the fact that the Financial Services Authority had rubberstamped the company's financial position, insisting that no further capital was required in the short to medium term. The bank has also received another piece of good news with the clarification that Barclays does not need to participate in the UK government's toxic assets insurance scheme.<...
Read More20% of couples marry with hidden debt
24/08/2015 A recent study from Debt Advisory Centre has found that one in five people planning to marry soon are hiding some form of debt from their partner. In a survey of 2,000 adults, 20% of respondents admitted that their partner is not aware of the full extent of their borrowing. The average amount hidden works out at an average of £3,200, with a fifth owing more than £5,000. A t...
Read MoreNon-executive directors start to feel the heat
While in the olden days many people believed that the non-executive roles across many of the U.K.'s leading companies were "jobs for the boys", this situation has certainly changed over the last six months. The sudden demise of companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland and other banking arrangements in the UK has led to further scrutiny of the whole non-executive director system which should have s...
Read More