Investors put price on Cadbury, Kraft deal - report

Kraft made an offer of 745p a share, worth £10.2bn (about $16.4bn) on August 28, but Cadbury rejected the bid, saying that it ‘fundamentally undervalued’ the company and that it ‘made no strategic or financial sense’ for Cadbury.

Cadbury’s announced upwardly revised revenue forecasts last week, with industry analysts claiming they were a strong defence to the bid from Kraft.
The US group has been given until November 9 by the UK Takeover Panel to make an offer or the contrary for Cadbury.

Strong defence​

Andrew Wood, senior research analyst at Bernstein, maintains that management at the confectionery giant has successfully laid out its hand in its Q3 interim statement, to demonstrate how attractive Cadbury is, both to its own shareholders and to Kraft.

Cadbury said that 2009 revenue growth was now expected to be around the middle of its four to six per cent goal range with improved momentum increasing its confidence for good revenue growth in 2010 and 2011.

Low growth model ​

Last month, Cadbury chairman Roger Carr slammed the Kraft business model and bid for the confectioner.

In a letter to Kraft CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, he restated its rejection of the food giant’s £10.2bn takeover offer.

“Under your proposal, Cadbury would be absorbed into Kraft’s low growth, conglomerate business model, an unappealing prospect which contrasts sharply with our strategy to be a pure play confectionery company.”​

Andrew Wood said such strong language was probably a result of the Kraft decision to go public with its offer, and defend the amount aggressively in the media, instead of engaging in a longer, more constructive dialogue with Cadbury.

The quote also touches on another repeated message in the letter – the belief at Cadbury in the prospects of the company as an independent business.

Rosenfeld earlier said that a stand-alone Cadbury has "limited opportunities for value creation".​