Hershey rejects takeover offer from Mondelez
It seems that Hershey Co. did not find the takeover offer by Mondelez International to be sweet enough.
Reports say that insiders with knowledge of the bid say Hershey Co. has rejected that preliminary offer by Mondelez International. According to people familiar with takeover bid say Hershey Trust Co., which owns some 80% of the voting shares in the company, say the bid was see as too low.
Upon the initial announcement of the news that Mondelez was looking to take on Hershey, shares of Hershey, whose market capitalization is worth over US$35 billion, jumped 19% in early morning trading. Mondelez is valued at around US$84 billion.
Hershey had rejected an earlier offer from Mondelez in 2016 when the company made a US$23 billion offer to Hershey.
Mondelez International is based in Chicago and operates in some 160 countries and has such chocolate brands as Milka, Toblerone and Cadbury. Mondelez Canada holds the rights to Christie Brown and Company, with such Canadian favourites as Mr. Christie and Dad's Cookies.
The Hershey Co. has more than 90 brand names in approximately 80 countries that drive more than US$11.2 billion in annual revenues