Cadbury spurns 'low growth' Kraft 糖果商Cadbury与Kraft合作发

UK confectioner Cadbury has said would-be suitor Kraft has a "low growth" business model, and that a tie-up between the firms is "unappealing".

英国糖果商Cadbury称，与其可能的合作人Kraft之间的合作模式“增长缓慢”，两者之间的关系“无吸引力”。

Cadbury's produces some of the UK's best known chocolate bars

Last week Cadbury rejected a £10.2bn approach from Kraft Foods, saying the approach "fundamentally undervalued" the Dairy Milk maker¹.

Now Cadbury chairman Roger Carr has sent an open letter to Kraft chief executive Irene Rosenfeld.

He said the Kraft proposal was "of uncertain value" for his shareholders².

The letter also says that under Kraft's offer, "Cadbury would be absorbed into Kraft's low growth, conglomerate³（集成物，砾岩） business model, an unappealing prospect⁴".

Share movement

Mr Carr said that it was in Cadbury's best interests to remain as a stand-alone confectioner（糖果商）.

Kraft's bid is worth 300p in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, and originally valued Cadbury at 745p a share or £10.2bn ($17bn).

However, this had dropped to around 707p on Friday due to the weakness in Kraft shares and the dollar.

Cadbury's shares closed on Friday at 775-1/2p. Kraft shares have fallen by about 7% since it made its proposal.

As well as Dairy Milk, Cadbury also owns the Green & Black's chocolate brand and Halls lozenges（菱形，止咳糖）, Trident and Dentyne gum brands, and liquorice（甘草，甘蓝根） allsorts maker Bassett's. It spun⁵ off its drinks division as a separate business last year.

Kraft's brands include Kenco and Maxwell House coffee, Oreo biscuits, Jacobs, Terry's Chocolate Orange and Toblerone as well as cheese products such as Philadelphia and Dairylea.

A Kraft spokesman said the company had no comment to make on Mr Carr's letter.