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Empresas y finanzas

Kraft and Cadbury CEOs brief investors on bid battle


    LONDON (Reuters) - Kraft and Cadbury chief executives were meeting their investors in the same London building to seek support in a bid battle after Cadbury asked the UK Takeover Panel to give a ruling on Kraft's 9.9 billion pound ($16.17 billion) bid.

    CADBURY (CBRY.LO)s Todd Stitzer and Kraft's Irene Rosenfeld are attending the two-day Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Global Consumer and Retail Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday and meeting with investors individually or in small groups.

    "Both are speaking to their investors today, but they are not expected to meet each other," said one source with knowledge of the situation.

    Kraft is keen to talk to Cadbury's management about its cash and share bid which it launched two weeks ago, but Cadbury has dismissed the offer as undervaluing the company with its current share price well above the offer.

    Cadbury contacted the UK Takeover Panel on Monday to push Kraft into a "put up or shut up" situation, under which Kraft will be asked to make a formal bid within a set timetable or wall away from a bid for Cadbury for six months, sources close to the situation said.

    The sources added that the Takeover Panel is likely to give a ruling later this week and expect it to give Kraft some four to eight weeks to make its formal offer. They added that this was likely to be toward the longer timeframe as the bid has only been made public for two weeks.

    Cadbury shares were up 0.5 percent at 792 pence by 1340 GMT compared to Kraft bid which currently values Cadbury at 723p, while Kraft share were off 0.5 percent at $26.62. ($1=.6121 Pound) (Reporting by David Jones; Editing by Hans Peters)