Cadbury Schweppes Share Discussion Threads

[only who?] 19/1/2010 08:04

You'd think it would have spiked up further?

[hyper al] 19/1/2010 07:59

rns

not quite over yet

[hyper al] 19/1/2010 07:59

Why no RNS?

So it's official the UK is collapsing!

No more Cadbury (just added to my dictionary) chocolate, if they (Kraft) get read of a single job in the UK, I will not be buying any Kraft products again!

[2020hindsight] 19/1/2010 07:54

A good day for investors, but a sad day for the UK and chocolate ....

[gobbyash] 19/1/2010 07:48

Cadbury agrees Kraft takeover bid

Cadbury is to be taken over by the American food company Kraft after its board approved a new increased bid, the BBC has learned.

The Cadbury board will advise its shareholders to accept a new offer of 840 pence a share - valuing the company at £11.5bn.

Cadbury shareholders will also receive a dividend of 10 pence a share, BBC business editor Robert Peston says.

The deal will bring to an end months of animosity between the two companies.

The offer will consist of 500 pence in cash, with the rest made of Kraft shares. Kraft will borrow £7bn ($11.5bn) to finance the deal.

[gobbyash] 19/1/2010 07:46

How can you have an orderly market when the BBC are saying 840p but that the LSE won't be informed until lunchtime.

Shares should be suspended.

[careful] 18/1/2010 21:49

hedge funds are good at spreading scare stories when short.
but scaring the likes of kraft into overpaying, i doubt it.
tomorrow will be a very damp squib.

[pugg1ey] 18/1/2010 21:37

Sky news also saying £11.7billion bid being discussed

[jon827] 18/1/2010 21:06

Robert Peston thinks there will be a new offer in the morning

[topvest] 18/1/2010 20:58

I agree with the Cadbury-Hershey dual listed company as a great solution. Creates the no.1 chocolate company in one step. Quite tricky to put together in the timescales though I think.

The Kraft offer (even 10% more) makes no sense unless it is cash. The more they offer, the more the Kraft share price will bomb. It's difficult to see how Kraft can pull it off unless they have a master stroke, not yet played out. Somehow, I feel they must have something up their sleeve. It's all been very predictable so far. Kraft must have seen this coming..surely?

Anyway, not long to wait!

[kumala] 18/1/2010 17:07

PS: was that a 833,000 share purcase at close ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[kumala] 18/1/2010 16:51

The bit i like is on the last two lines.
K;
From the daily mail on line

US food giant Kraft appears poised to increase its hostile bid for Cadbury, as it looks to melt the resolve of the Dairy Milk-maker's shareholders with an 820p, or £11billion, offer.
The Oreos-to-Toblerone producer was holed up at the weekend as it mulled the prospect of upping its existing 761p offer for its unwilling UK target.
Cadbury has slammed that bid as 'derisory' and has sought to convince investors of its strength as an independent entity, citing good growth across its chocolate, sweets and gum divisions despite mixed trading conditions
However, Kraft chief Irene Rosenfeld could face some tough opposition as a group of 14 hedge funds with Cadbury shares have already told her they are holding out for at least 850p a share

[careful] 18/1/2010 16:39

this is exciting.
buffett vs paulson.

[kumala] 18/1/2010 16:35

OooooooooooHaaaaaaaaa Monty, up early budy, might be an interesting day, we may not know anything till later in the day, or on the other hand news may be out on market open, the share price might be good to us and give a little surge on high hopes. Time will tell......
K;)

[montyhedge] 18/1/2010 16:12

820p tomorrow morning.

[careful] 18/1/2010 15:59

This will be taken out for about 840 with about 500p cash.

[indomie] 18/1/2010 12:34

I just dont see why Hershey would risk their principles/values and reputation by going solo with private equity alongside.

If Hershey pays what is being rumoured then there will be huge pressure for synergies or carve up's which may end up badly damaging both the Cadbury and Hershey brands.

I cannot believe that Cadbury's/Hershey's advisers are not pursuing the merger option vigorously and in preference to an outright bid, not least because the UK Govt is watching closely and if either Kraft/Hershey are seen to be taking over Cadbury it will attract far more media & stakeholder scrutiny.

I therefore maintain that the best resolution to this tug of war (except for short term speculators), & in light of lessons from the financial markets crisis, would be for cadbury to secure a merger of equals with hershey.

INDOMIE - 9 Jan'10 - 14:45 - 793 of 824 edit


What about a different outcome?

The media are still talking about an outright takeover but I'd have thought it would make more sense for Cadbury and Hersey to come together in a joint holding structure - a bit like Shell in the UK and Royal Dutch in Holland.

The Hershey Trust could then retain control of the US business, whilst both firms could benefit from synergies and enhanced growth opportunities. Hershey wouldn't have to risk taking on huge new debts through a takeover and both would defend their existing mkt positions.....Cadbury is slightly bigger than Hershey, so Hershey could either offer some cash to make the venture 50/50 or Cadbury shareholders could have a larger % of the holding company.

This wouldnt be any white knight proposal, it would be two strong firms coming together to create the number one confectionary firm in the world. Much better than all the other scenarios I've seen debated.

[kumala] 18/1/2010 11:27

mmm, fingers crossed Topical for a favorable outcome, from a selfish point of view the signs are strong that we indeed might see £8.50 very soon, a price i will be happy to take, £8.20 is looking to be pretty much a certinty and for us will be some upside to our buy price's, so all in all we should not take a loss on CBRY, am just abit miffed at the time lapse on the deal, but i know its to be expected on such a move. I should not have been so hasty in buying CBRY and would have made a much higher profit if my funds remained in my last investment, such is life and we are not going to get it right all the time.
even so, a profit is a profit no matter how small.
talk later
K ;)

[topicel] 18/1/2010 09:27

The only concern about achieving £8.50 or even £8.25 seems to be the lack of real market reaction this morning. Clearly they feel it won't go to those levels by only moving the mid-price up to £8.07.

Probably because they doubt Hershey can cope. But a third Private Equity investor??? Independent who may take it private even? Terra Firma and EMI comes to mind.

But perhaps the conditions are right. Keep watching the share price as the day progresses and into tomorrow when Kraft will have to open the final lock on the war chest. Lol.

Topicel

[topicel] 18/1/2010 08:23

Well, we did say all along we'd look for, expect, accept (chose as appropriate!) £8.50 Kumala, and now it looks like it will maybe come true.

Irene Rosenfeld has played it long but really not made any impression and should lose her position imho if she backs down now. Hundreds of millions in fees and costs on both sides of the pond, and for what? Nope, she must realise her job is in jeopardy and from what I hear she isn't gonna take that easily.

So, up the ante and let's see if Hershey have the inside track with Cadbury and Private Equity to then go even higher...

I'd maybe take £8.25 from Hershey, but still on principle Kraft will have to pay top dollar for messing us all about.

Topicel

[kumala] 17/1/2010 17:13

So looks like were gona get £8.20, could this be a steping stone to a counter bid around the £8.50........... ?
K


Kraft Preparing To Raise Cadbury Bid To 820p - Reports

LONDON (Dow Jones)
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) is preparing to raise its bid for U.K. confectioner Cadbury PLC (CBY) to around 820p ahead of a Tuesday takeover panel deadline, U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times reported, without citing sources.

Kraft has until Tuesday to sweeten its offer for Cadbury but the paper said the increased bid is expected to come Monday and will also likely include more cash.

Kraft's offer for Cadbury--comprising 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share--was worth around 762 pence a share late Friday, and it has been dismissed as too low by Cadbury and several of its largest shareholders.

The Observer newspaper also reported that Kraft is considering adding an extra $1 billion in cash to the bid which would allow it to increase the bid value to about 820p.

A spokesman for Kraft declined to comment on the reports.

U.S. confectionary group Hershey Co. (HSY) plans to bid at least $17.9 billion for Cadbury this week, people familiar with the matter said.

-By Kathy Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9293; [e-mail]

Jeffrey McCracken, Dana Cimilluca And Ilan Brat contributed to this article.

[kumala] 15/1/2010 17:32

Yea, and i think they new that (that they would have to pay over the £8) at the start, all this flufing around.
K

[montyhedge] 15/1/2010 11:13

Anyone bidding for Cad must pay well over 800p otherwise they have wasted everyone's time.