UK chocolate maker Cadbury has launched a stinging attack on hostile bidder Kraft, declaring there is no strategic or financial merit in a “corporate jewel” being bought by the US food group.
Roger Carr, chairman, said Cadbury would not use the “strategic u-turns, financial engineering or pac man defences so often a feature of weak businesses under siege” as he urged shareholders to reject Kraft's £10.3bn ($16.8bn) hostile offer.
The chocolate maker need not appeal to national sentiment with a “Union Jack defence”, he said, because an acquisition by Kraft would slow the company's growth and “stifle the enterprising spirit of management”.