Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, June 30, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Kraft Foods Co is revising the brands and countries it will focus on in developing markets as a result of its acquisition earlier this year of Cadbury Plc.
Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates, Halls lozenges and Trident gum, three Cadbury brands, make the list of 10 "power" brands getting the bulk of the marketing money in developing markets, said Sanjay Khosla, Kraft's president, developing markets and global categories. They join Oreo cookies, Milka chocolate, Lacta chocolate, Jacobs coffee, Tan... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods has signed an agreement to sell Wedel-branded confectionery operations in Poland interited from Cadbury to Lotte Group for an undisclosed sum. The sale includes the Wedel brands and is subject to regulatory approvals. With this deal around 1,000 Wedel employees will be transfered to Lotte Group.
Kraft will continue to utilize the remaining Cadbury brands and business in Poland, including the Halls brand and other non-Wedel-branded chocolate and sugar confectionery and two manufac... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, June 11, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Hrshey's Indian joint venture Godrej Hershey is reported to be introducing chocolate products into Indian confectionery market. The JV was established in 2007, and it was focused on mainly food and sugar confectionery products in India.Hershey holds 51% of the joint venture. The JV has already introduced a chocolate syrup into the Indian market from Hershey's portfolio.
According to Euromonitor reports that the growing Asian economies and rising consumer affluence have resulted in consumer... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, May 12, 2010,
In :
innovation
Reading Scientific Services (RSSL) will house an expanded global science and technology centre supporting Kraft worldwide following a radical restructuring that will also see Cadbury Bournville transformed into a global centre of excellence for chocolate research. The move formed part of a broader announcement in which Kraft revealed plans to shut down its Cheltenham HQ and relocate commercial, administrative and other support staff to Bournville and Uxbridge.
Under the proposals, Bournvill... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, May 10, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Kraft Foods chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld has said that Kraft's first-quarter performance has "reinforced" the company's decision to buy Cadbury.The world's largest confectioner reported first-quarter net income of US$1.88bn for the three months to 31 March, compared with net income of $660m a year earlier.Sales rose 26% to $11.3bn thanks to the first contributions from the Cadbury business it acquired earlier this year.The combined companies' organic net revenues rose 3.9%, reflecting 3.3... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, May 10, 2010,
In :
confectionery
US chocolate manufacturer, Hershey, said it is still open to international expansion and it claims acquisitions will be made easier by the fact that the global chocolate markets are still fragmented. Hershey CEO Mr.David West stated, at the manufacturer’s annual general meeting that the company still sees opportunity to grow abroad due to recent consolidation in the sector. Industry analysts claimed Hershey would face a tougher global competitive environment following Kraft’s recent acqu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Monday, April 12, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Kraft, has recruited the services of HSBC and BNP Paribas to help divest it of the Polish and Romanian businesses of Cadbury, according to media reports.
The European Commission gave Kraft clearance in January for the acquisition of Cadbury with the condition that Kraft would have to sell the Romanian and Polish businesses of Cadbury to a third party as the takeover would cause competition concerns in those particular confectionery markets. Kraft’s major brands in Europe are Milka, Cote d... Continue reading ...
The UK Parliament’s Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, in its report published today, expressed concern that the takeover of Cadbury by Kraft was ultimately decided by institutional investors motivated by short-term profits rather than those investors who had the company’s long-term interests at heart. The politicians found that the takeover was particularly marred by the controversy over Kraft’s statements regarding the future of Cadbury’s Somerdale factory which was earmarke... Continue reading ...
Former Cadbury plc executive Jim Chambers has been named president of confectionery and general manager for Kraft Foods, Inc.’s Immediate Consumption Channel, North America.
He will oversee such Cadbury brands as Trident gum and Halls. According to the company, Chambers will be focused on growing the newly acquired gum business in the U.S., especially in the convenience channel.
Chambers, 52, was previously president for Cadbury North America and now reports to Kraft’s president of Nort... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, March 17, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Lindt & Sprüngli revealed that its 2009 fiscal year profits dropped by 35.4% as the economic downturn hit demand for its premium chocolate products. Lindt says that the global economic crisis caused the chocolate market have decline in sales for the first time in ten years. Price conscious consumers also increasingly looked to private label products, Lindt also mentions that the currency fluctuations and higher cocoa prices reduced their profitability.
Looking to the coming year, Lindt fore... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Friday, March 5, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Mr.Trevor Bond, Cadbury’s UK managing director, has been handed a new role overseeing Kraft Foods’ European businesses.
Mr.Bond is promoted to president (markets) of Kraft Europe, giving him responsibility for the group’s individual national business units.Kraft’s UK and Ireland MD, Mr.Nick Bunker, takes over the combined UK business of Kraft and Cadbury. They will both report to Kraft European president Mr.Mike Clarke.
Mr.Clarke said retaining Bond reflected the “‘best of both... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Thursday, February 18, 2010,
In :
food news
U.S. food makers are looking overseas for more profitable growth over the next few years, as they often must rely on short-term price promotions to drive sales at home.
Kraft Foods Inc said its acquisition of Cadbury would accelerate long-term growth, though it expects the deal to hurt 2010 results."The U.S. consumer is all grown up, and future growth in consumer spending will be outside the U.S.," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold.From that perspective, Kraft buying Cadbury makes a great ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Thursday, February 18, 2010,
Hershey Co CEO David West does not think the charitable trust that has the controlling vote at the largest U.S. chocolate maker stops him from running the company the way it should be run."I don't feel any roadblocks because of that ownership structure," West said during an interview on the sidelines of the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference.
Hershey is getting ready to battle the new No. 1 in the world confectionery business when Kraft Foods Inc closes its $18.4 billion acquisiti... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Wednesday, February 10, 2010,
In :
confectionery
Kraft Foods confirmed that it will push ahead with Cadbury's plans to close the Somerdale manufacturing facility in Keynsham, near Bristol. Cadbury had planned to close the Somerdale site and move production to Poland in a bid to cut costs. However, prior to Kraft's takeover of the UK confectioner, it indicated that it hoped to keep Somerdale open. Nevertheless, a week after securing shareholder approval for its acquisition, Kraft said that “extensive talks” with “senior management” ... Continue reading ...
The long story between Kraft and Cadbury has ended with a victory of Kraft. The shareholders of Cadbury have approved the acquision offer made by Kraft with a 70% majority. Todd Stitzer is stepping down as chief executive of Cadbury in the wake of shaqreholders' vote to accept Kraft Foods’ takeover bid. Joining him on the way out will be chairman Roger Carr and chief financial officer Andrew Bonfield. Their departure dates have yet to be set.While Stitzer and Carr were certain to leave fo... Continue reading ...
Posted by Turgut Ziyal on Thursday, January 28, 2010,
In :
confectionery
As always said, the expected Kraft-Cadbury deal will trigger further changes in the confectionery world. One of such speculations is that Swiss food group Nestlé is likely to set itself a long-term goal to buy Hershey , hoping that market pressures after the Kraft-Cadbury deal will wear down opposition from the controlling Hershey Trust.
It is argued that after Kraft and Cadbury merge, Hershey's main U.S. market will become more competitive and as being a pure confectionery player, Hershey... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods said today that it has reduced the number of acceptances required to fulfil the conditions of its takeover offer for Cadbury to 50% plus one shares, from 90%. Cadbury shareholders have until Feb. 2 to accept Kraft's improved offer for the firm. Source: Market Watch Continue reading ...
In the conference call, Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld had with Wall Street analysts, she mentiones several major synergy points of this tie-up. These will be the preliminery outcomes of this acquisition, aside from financial and/or tax benefits, feel free to comment on them or add more if you like: - Cadbury has more "instant consumption" channels like gas stations, cornershops which are well penetrated by Cadbury products in many countries ( also in Turkey where I live) wheras Kraft is more c... Continue reading ...
Kraft has reached a tentative deal for a friendly takeover of Cadbury, agreeing in principle to pay about $19 billion in cash and stock for the confectioner, people briefed on the matter said on Monday. If realized, the deal would create a global food giant that would unite Kraft with Cadbury . Together, the two companies would have more than $50 billion in revenue and a big presence in markets globally.Most recently Mars buying the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 2008 for $23 billion became the b... Continue reading ...
The European Commission said on Wednesday it had given conditional approval for U.S. food group Kraft Foods Inc to take over British confectionery maker Cadbury. The European Union executive said in a written statement the hostile bid was conditional on Kraft's divestment of Cadbury's Polish and Romanian chocolate confectionery businesses.
The combination of Kraft and Cadbury would create the world's largest sweets, chewing-gum and chocolate group, overtaking Mars-Wrigley.
The Commission t... Continue reading ...
Wall Street Journal reported that investor Warren Buffett waded into the battle for Cadbury PLC, issuing a rebuke of Kraft Foods Inc.'s just-sweetened, nearly $17 billion takeover offer for the British confectionary company. As Kraft's largest shareholder—with a 9.4% stake—Mr. Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said it wouldn't support the issuance of new shares to pay for a Cadbury deal. "To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting 'yes' today is authorizing a huge ... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods said yesterday (15 December) that it had received clearance from US competition authorities to proceed with its proposed acquisition of UK confectioner Cadbury.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, Kraft revealed: “The US competition condition to the offer is now satisfied.” According to a spokesperson for the company, Kraft now only requires regulatory clearance in the EU. Last week, the European Commission has exteded the deadfline for reviewing the proposals until... Continue reading ...
Cadbury yesterday (15 December) attacked predator Kraft Foods after the US food giant claimed Cadbury was opening its shareholders to "significant risk". Kraft, issued a statement and questioned the defense of Cadbury as an independent company which was centered on move to raise its sales, margins and dividend targets.Kraft questioned how the company could meet the loftier goals and insisted its bid would give better value to Cadbury investors.
"Kraft seem to have run out of ideas," a Cadbu... Continue reading ...
European regulators have pushed back the deadline for their review of Kraft’s $16.1bn bid for Cadbury after the American company offered concessions, they said on Wednesday.
The European Commission has extended the deadline by ten working days from December 14 to January 6, its daily list of mergers and takeovers under review showed. This is in order to review concessions put forward by Kraft to help ease anti-competition concerns, although European regulators did not give further det... Continue reading ...
LONDON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kraft Foods made its formal $16.1 billion offer to Cadbury shareholders, triggering a two-month takeover fight for the chocolate maker and a frosty response from Britain.
UK business secretary Peter Mandelson warned the U.S. food giant it would face a backlash if it tried to buy Cadbury on the cheap. "If you think that you can come here and make a fast buck you will find that you face huge opposition from the local population ... and from the British government,... Continue reading ...
Kraft Foods remains the favourite to buy Cadbury, a leading industry analyst claimed even if US chocolate maker Hershey tables a bid for the Dairy Milk maker.
Andrew Wood, senior research analyst covering European food companies at Sanford Bernstein, said Kraft was still the front-runner to buy Cadbury. Wood suggested, however, that a "likely" bid from Hershey - either on its own or alongside Ferrero or Nestle - would mean an acquisition of Cadbury would not be the "steal" that Kraft had ho... Continue reading ...
In last couple of days news about Cadbury- Kraft deal comes one after the other. So when we start a new week we have practically three options analysts talking about:
- Kraft
- Hershey and Ferero coalition
- Nestlé may bid as well
But when all the rumors and analysis read carefully, what I see as the most interesting option would be a Hershey bid backed by Nestlé. Nestlé definetely will not like to see a "Kraftbury" threat to its chocolate market, but it cannot make a direct bid to Cadb...
Continue reading ...
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian chocolate maker Ferrero could be interested in Cadbury's gum and candy division, a unit worth about 5 billion euros ($7.4 billion), in a possible joint takeover bid, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Friday.
Unlisted Ferrero and U.S.-based Hershey Co are considering a joint offer for the British confectioner, which is the target of a hostile bid from Kraft Foods Inc. A Hershey-Ferrero takeover would have the goal of breaking up Cadbury, with Ferrero ending up ... Continue reading ...
I know everybody has got tired of Kraft's attempt to acquire Cadbury but this deal continues to be the most important development in food industry in recent months...So I keep informing you if any new and interesting bits of information is around:
The European Commission has set a one-month deadline to rule on the possible hostile takeover of Cadbury by US food giant Kraft, the EU competition regulator said on Wednesday.
It said it will decide by December 14 whether it considers that a... Continue reading ...
Up to 14 per cent of Cadbury's shares are estimated to be controlled by hedge funds that are betting that Krafty will increase its $16.2bn offer for the UK confectioner, this increase the probability that its hostile bid will succeed.
Brokers predict that towards the end of the bid battle, so-called merger arbitrageurs could own more than a quarter of Cadbury’s stock, potentially shifting the outcome of the deal in Kraft’s favour.
These funds aim to profit from the spread between ... Continue reading ...
The Cadbury board has rejected a formal bid from Kraft, launched just four hours ahead of the ‘put up or shut up’ deadline set by the Takeover Panel. At 13:00 GMT today, Kraft put in a £9.8bn offer – the same as its original expression of interest in September.
Chairman Roger Carr again branded Kraft a “low-growth conglomerate” and said Cadbury would perform more strongly as an independent business.
"The repetition of a proposal which is now of less value and lower than the curre... Continue reading ...
Kraft was finalising its plans to make a direct appeal to the shareholders of Britain’s best-known chocolate brand by Monday when a “put-up or shut-up” deadline enforced by the Takeover Panel expires, according to people familiar with the situation.
Cadbury was not expecting a last-minute friendly approach from Kraft over the week... Continue reading ...
As the time closes for Kraft to place new cards on trhe table for Cadbury takeover according to a Reuters report, which cited sources close to the situation, Kraft plans to keep a price increase off the table in order to retain the bargaining chip for later in the negotiation process. Such a move would effectively turn Kraft's bid hostile.
Continue reading ...
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About This Blog:
| getfoodnews |
| Turgut@Getfoodnews.Com |
In this blog I try to compile the news related with food industry. This includes food companies, retailers, ingredients, regulations, mergers&acqusitions and others. In each post I try to designate the source of the news and add a link to the original document.
I hope you find it useful. For any comments please feel free to send me an email (turgut@getfoodnews.com). You can post your comments inside the boxes appearing at the end of each posting when clicked the headline.
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