Cadbury rejects Kraft buyout bid

London, Dec. 14: British confectionery giant Cadbury on Monday formally rejected American firm Kraft Foods hostile takeover bid as “wholly inadequate” and accused the US company of trying to buy it “on the cheap.”

Kraft had made a renewed bid to buy Cadbury for £10.1 billion in a hostile takeover after the UK firm rejected its initial bid in September. Kraft had valued Cadbury at around 713p a share, equivalent to £10.1 billion. Kraft Foods is the world’s second largest food company with annual revenues of $42 billion.

The board said that the Kraft offer “substantially undervalues Cadbury” and recommended that the shareholders reject the offer.

“Kraft is trying to buy Cadbury on the cheap to provide much needed growth to their unattractive low-growth conglomerate business model. Don’t let Kraft steal your company,” Cadbury chairman, Mr Roger Carr, said.