GLOBAL – Kraft wins the chocolate battle

MILAN –British iconic chocolatier Cadbury gives up 176 years of independence since John Cadbury began selling tea, coffee and hot cocoa from a shop in Birmingham, England.

UK’s largest confectionery company Tuesday accepted an GBP11.9 billion, or US$ 19.5 billion takeover offer from Kraft Foods Inc. ending a four- month acrimonious battle.

Kraft had originally offered about 16-billion dollars in a hostile bid that involved mostly stock, that Cadbury’s board rejected as “derisory”.

The Chicago-based processed food giant upped its offer for the chocolatier in a revised cash-and-stock deal during talks that ran through Monday night in London.

Kraft has agreed to pay 500 pence in cash for each Cadbury share as well as 0.1874 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, up from its original offer of 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares.

Operating in more than 60 countries and employing more than 46,000 people, Cadbury is the world’s second-largest confectionery company after Mars-Wrigley and the No. 1 or No. 2 positions in more than 20 of the world’s 50 biggest confectionery markets.