After four months of negotiation and fierce resistance and bitter statements, Cadbury accepted the improved $19.4 bln bid of Kraft, a deal that would turn the US-based candy maker into the world’s largest confectioner. However, in order to move ahead with the merger, Cadbury must divest its Polish and Romanian chocolate confectionary businesses.
Cadbury Romania – For Sale
In June 2007, Britain’s Cadbury acquired Romanian sweets group Kandia Excelent. But how much was the entrance fee at that time? Cadbury picked up 93.2% in Kandia Excelent from the majority shareholders of the company, Axis Investments and Meinl Bank, for 326.4 million lei or €99.4 million in two deals at the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Almost two years on, Cadbury Romania is for sale. The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of Cadbury by US candy maker Kraft Foods. However, the Commission’s decision is conditional upon the divestment of the Polish and Romanian chocolate confectionary businesses of Cadbury.
Who would be the buyers? “Strategic, most likely investment funds”, Ioana Filipescu (photo), managing director with Raiffeisen Investment Romania told Wall-Street, adding that acquisition process for Cadbury’s Romanian operations might already be underway.
“These transactions don’t happen over night, the negotiation process is long. They don’t leak to the media out of the blue. An acquisition process for Cadbury Romania may already be underway as we speak,” said Filipescu.
A candy maker is certainly an attractive target for takeover, as the confectionary is one of the attractive industries even in crisis. “Confectionary business is a growing field and definitely an attractive industry regardless to the economic conditions”, the representative of Raiffeisen Invetsment said.
It is too early to say if the acquisition price will be around the 2007 lev
