US food major Kraft Foods today made a formal offer to acquire British confectionery major Cadbury at 9.8 billion pounds, two months after its informal proposal was rejected by the target company.
The company's formal bid for Cadbury, maker of popular Dairy Milk brand, is unchanged from its informal offer in early September.
The British firm has a significant presence in India.
Kraft Foods is offering Cadbury 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft Foods shares for each Cadbury share. This values each Cadbury share at 717 pence and valuing the firm at 9.8 billion pounds.
The company, in a statement, said the current offer is "based on the closing share price of $26.78 per Kraft Foods share on November 6, 2009, the offer values each Cadbury share at 717 pence and values the entire issued share capital of Cadbury at approximately 9.8 billion pounds."
Based on earlier share price, the original bid was estimated to be worth about 10.2 billion pounds.
Commenting on the offer, Kraft Foods Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said: "We remain convinced of the strategic merits for both companies of combining Kraft Foods and Cadbury.
"We believe that our proposal offers the best immediate and long-term value for Cadbury's shareholders and for the company itself compared with any other option currently available, including Cadbury remaining independent."
