Word: wrigley
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...After a series of bad years for Hershey, however, the trust board briefly toyed in 2007 with the idea of selling its stock to Wrigley, famous for its chewing-gum brand, but backed down within hours of closing the deal. State and federal authorities had tried to block the sale, in part because of concerns about the size of a combined Wrigley-Hershey company. Residents of the town of Hershey, meanwhile, expressed outrage and even convinced a local judge to delay the sale, saying it would cause "irreparable harm" to the community...
...merger now would give U.S.-focused Hershey an international presence to compete with powerhouse rivals such as Mars Inc., which recently merged with Hershey's would-be suitor Wrigley. It would also give Hershey a firmer foothold to compete in the chewing-gum market, since Cadbury owns a number of brands, including Trident, Dentyne and Chiclets...
...Kraft's current bid, although a 31% premium over Cadbury's closing price on Sept. 4th, the last trading day before the bid was announced, values Cadbury at about 11 times 2009 EBITDA, estimates Growe. This is far below the 19 multiple that Mars paid when it snapped up Wrigley in a $23 billion deal last year. And Cadbury's growth potential, as outlined by the company's CEO Todd Stitzer last year, is bigger than Wrigley's was at the time. Analysts believe a suitor would need to pay at least a 16 multiple, or about $21 billion...
...Hershey doesn't step up, "its growth ability will be dramatically impaired," says an observer, adding that it has "an ability now to put gum and chocolate together in the U.S. and be a real competitior to Mars-Wrigley...
...closing price last Friday, Sept. 4. But analysts agree with Cadbury's assessment that Kraft's approach "fundamentally undervalues the group and its prospects." As a multiple of Cadbury's sales, for instance, Kraft's offer amounts to roughly half that tabled by Mars in its acquisition of Wrigley, says Jeremy Batstone-Carr, an analyst at brokers Charles Stanley in London. Expectation of a second bid from Kraft, a fresh one from Switzerland's Nestlé or U.S. confectioner Hershey, or even a combined approach from Kraft and one of its rivals pushed Cadbury shares 40% higher Monday. (Read about...