Cadbury boss blasts Kraft’s sour proposal
CADBURY ramped up its defence at the weekend against a takeover from Kraft after its chairman Roger Carr blasted the bid as “unattractive.”
In an open letter to Kraft’s chief executive Irene Rosenfeld, Carr reaffirmed the Dairy Milk maker’s rejection of the £10.2bn bid, which he believed “fundamentally undervalues Cadbury.”
And in a further slight, Carr labelled Kraft, the maker of Oreo biscuits and Philadelphia cheese, as a “company with a considerably less focused business mix and historically lower growth.”
Highlighting the point, Carr warned that a deal would be of “uncertain value for Cadbury shareholders” and may stifle “its prospects as an independent entity”.
The terse letter signals what could be a souring relationship between the two confectionary groups, despite Kraft saying that it would continue to be “disciplined” and adopt a friendly approach to working on a deal.
Broker Sanford Bernstein said Carr’s strong tone was “probably a result of the decision by Kraft to not engage in a longer, more constructive dialogue with Cadbury before going public with the proposed offer, and so blind-siding Cadbury management.”