Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT) CEO Irene Rosenfeld worked the U.K. Sunday papers this past weekend, giving interviews to archrivals The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times, as the company waits to hear whether the Takeover Panel will issue it with a deadline to retreat or make a firm offer for confectioner Cadbury plc (NYSE:CBY).
In The Sunday Times, Rosenfeld suggests the hostile bid target had failed to "do the math quite accurately" by insisting it can do better going it alone than by accepting Kraft's 745 pence stock-and-cash bid. She tells the Telegraph that she'd contemplate Kraft listing in London to give U.K. investors in Cadbury a market for the shares they'd gain. She also points out that Cadbury shares were trading in the mid-500-pence range for much of last year and notes that synergies between the two companies will help offset expected rises in the cost of raw materials.
With Cadbury shares early afternoon Monday trading at 804.5 pence, compared with the current 725.6 pence, or £10 billion ($15.9 billion) value of the Kraft bid, the Uxbridge, U.K., chocolate maker's shareholders evidently need more convincing. However, Rosenfeld's powers of persuasion may be irrelevant. The Financial Times Monday notes that the rising value of the dollar against sterling could soon make the Illinois company's less-than-generous offer look exciting. - Laura Board
See The Sunday Times article
See The Sunday Telegraph article
See FT.com article
Continue reading below
