page_title: History of Cadbury
section_title: Acquisition by Kraft Foods
hierarchical_section_title: History of Cadbury / Acquisition by Kraft Foods
caption_attribution_description: English: Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory Once this was the Fry chocolate factory. This has now been taken over by Kraft Foods, and all production to cease. They are building a new factory to replace this in Poland.
context_page_description: Cadbury's is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelēz International. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars. Cadbury is headquartered in Uxbridge, London, and operates in more than fifty countries worldwide. Its best known products include Dairy Milk chocolate.
  In 1824, John Cadbury began to sell tea, coffee and drinking chocolate from his premises in Birmingham. Cadbury developed the business with his brother Benjamin, and later his sons Richard and George. George developed the Bournville estate, a model village designed to improve the living conditions of company employees. Dairy Milk chocolate, introduced in 1905, used a higher proportion of milk within the recipe compared with rival products. By 1914, the chocolate was the company's best-selling product.
  Cadbury merged with J. S. Fry & Sons in 1919, and Schweppes in 1969. Cadbury was a constant constituent of the FTSE 100 from the index's 1984 inception until the company was bought by Kraft Foods in 2010.
context_section_description: On 7 September 2009 Kraft Foods made a £10.2 billion (US$16.2 billion) indicative takeover bid for Cadbury. The offer was rejected, with Cadbury stating that it undervalued the company. Kraft launched a formal, hostile bid for Cadbury valuing the firm at £9.8 billion on 9 November 2009. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson warned Kraft not to try to "make a quick buck" from the acquisition of Cadbury.
  On 19 January 2010, it was announced that Cadbury and Kraft Foods had reached a deal and that Kraft would purchase Cadbury for £8.40 per share, valuing Cadbury at £11.5bn (US$18.9bn). Kraft, which issued a statement stating that the deal will create a "global confectionery leader", had to borrow £7 billion (US$11.5bn) in order to finance the takeover.
  The Hershey Company, based in Pennsylvania, manufactures and distributes Cadbury-branded chocolate (but not its other confectionery) in the United States and has been reported to share Cadbury's "ethos". Hershey had expressed an interest in buying Cadbury because it would broaden its access to faster-growing international markets. But on 22 January 2010, Hershey announced that it would not counter Kraft's final offer.
  The acquisition of Cadbury faced widespread disapproval from the British public, as well as groups and organisations including trade union Unite, who estimated that a takeover by Kraft could put 30,000 jobs "at risk". Controversially, RBS, a bank 84% owned by the United Kingdom Government, funded the Kraft takeover.
  On 2 February 2010, Kraft secured over 71% of Cadbury's shares thus finalising the deal. Kraft had needed to reach 75% of the shares in order to be able to delist Cadbury from the stock market and fully integrate it as part of Kraft. This was achieved on 5 February 2010, and the company announced that Cadbury shares would be de-listed on 8 March 2010.
  On 3 February 2010, the chairman Roger Carr, chief executive Todd Stitzer and chief financial officer Andrew Bonfield all announced their resignations. Stitzer had worked at the company for 27 years.
  On 9 February 2010, Kraft announced that they were planning to close the Somerdale Factory, Keynsham, with the loss of 400 jobs. The management explained that existing plans to move production to Poland were too advanced to be realistically reversed, though assurances had been given regarding sustaining the plant. Staff at Keynsham criticised this move, suggesting that they felt betrayed and as if they have been "sacked twice".
  In June 2010 the Polish division, Cadbury-Wedel, was sold to Lotte of Korea. The European Commission made the sale a condition of the Kraft takeover. As part of the deal Kraft will keep the Cadbury, Hall's and other brands along with two plants in Skarbimierz. Lotte will take over the plant in Warsaw along with the E Wedel brand.
  On 4 August 2011, Kraft Foods announced they would be splitting into two companies beginning on 1 October 2012. The confectionery business of Kraft became Mondelēz International, of which Cadbury is a subsidiary.
caption: The former Fry's factory in Somerdale (1921–2010)
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