(By
Bob Blandeburgo) Is a bidding war brewing for Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR:
CBY)
In a widely anticipated move, Nestle SA (PINK:
NSRGY) said yesterday (Monday) that it would sell its remaining 52% stake of Alcon Inc. (NYSE:
ACN) to Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NYSE ADR:
NVS) for about $28 billion. That influx of cash could give Nestle the financial firepower to go up against Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:
KFT) in a competing bid for Cadbury.
Nestle is always "
open to acquisition opportunities if they fit strategically," Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke told
The Wall Street Journal in September.
Bulcke
declined to comment on a possible deal with Cadbury in a November interview with
The Journal. But on Dec. 5,
two people familiar with the talks told
Bloomberg that Hershey had contact with Nestle about a possible partnership to counter Kraft's hostile takeover of Cadbury.
The notion of a Nestle bid for Cadbury has merit. Among
the escalating activity in the merger-and-acquisition (M&A) market is marked growth in deals among food companies. For instance, PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE:
PEP)
is proposing buyouts of The Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (NYSE:
PBG) and PepsiAmericas Inc. (NYSE:
PAS).
Kraft's bid for Cadbury - so far uncontested - is expected to be rejected by shareholders today (Tuesday).