In M&A news, U.K. confectioner Cadbury Monday rejected a surprise GBP10.2 billion ($16.73 billion) bid from Kraft (KFT), saying it fundamentally undervalued the company and its prospects. But the U.S. food giant said it is committed to working toward a deal despite the rejection from Cadbury's board. A deal would create a company with annual revenues of some $50 billion and a market share of 15% of the world's confectionary market, according to analysts. Kraft, whose brands include Velveeta cheese, Oreo cookies and Philadelphia cream cheese, said it offered to pay 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, valuing the U.K. company's share capital at GBP10.2 billion.
However, analysts said Monday that Kraft will have to sweeten the offer by around 7% to at least the equivalent of 800 pence to get Cadbury's board to the negotiating table and prevent rival bidders from emerging.
Elsewhere, Morgan Stanley (MS) is looking to exit its back-office operations in India and is considering a part or full sale of the unit, according to local newspaper reports.
The potential value of Morgan Stanley's entire back-office operations could be between $150 million and $200 million, or around $50 million solely for the knowledge process outsourcing operations, an unnamed investment banker said, adding that Infosys Technologies, Wipro and eClerx Services were potential buyers.
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