Cadbury Plc executives met with most of the company's major shareholders and it appears that a significant number do not believe Kraft's offer for the company reflects the British chocolatier's stand-alone value, Cadbury's chief executive on Friday.
-- Investors appear to see higher Cadbury stand-alone value
-- CEO says to communicate again with investors by January 12
-- CEO says no direct talks with Kraft since first approach
Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer told Reuters in an interview that "it appears that the stand-alone value of the company has risen in the eyes of shareholders" since it posted a defence to Kraft's $16.2 billion (10 billion pound) hostile bid earlier this week.
Stitzer was in New York to hold talks with major Cadbury investors. He said that Cadbury intended to communicate again with investors in time for a January 12 deadline set by the UK Take-over Panel to convey additional information about its performance in 2009.
He said that the company had not had direct talks with Kraft since the U.S. food maker initially approached it in late August about a potential deal.