TORONTO (Reuters) - Kraft Foods (KFT.N), North America's biggest food group, plans to hold talks in coming weeks with British bid target Cadbury (CBRY.L) that may lead to a new bid offer for the global No. 2 candy and chocolate maker.
"In the weeks ahead we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with the board and management of Cadbury," Kraft Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld said in a speech to business students in Toronto. She said the company would continue to assess the opportunity and consider progressing to a formal offer, correcting an earlier statement that talks might result in a "final" offer.
Kraft wants to buy the British chocolate giant as it targets growth after revamping operations in recent years, although the candy maker immediately rejected an initial offer worth 10.2 billion pound ($16.7 billion).
Kraft has rewired its executive team, decentralized decision-making and refurbished and reformed its brand under Rosenfeld to focus on quality after a slide in customer satisfaction.
Rosenfeld said the next step is to target growth, and an acquisition of Cadbury would be one way of doing that.
"If this transaction were completed, Kraft Foods would expect to revise our long-term growth targets to 5 plus percent for revenue and 9-11 percent for earnings per share, from our previously announced, 4-plus percent and 7-9 percent, respectively," she said.
(Reporting by Pav Jordan; Editing Bernard Orr)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire