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Continental and United planes at O’Hare. (Charles Cherney)
From the Financial Times | Glenn Tilton, chairman and CEO or United Airlines, hinted in an interview that United may still be interested in pursuing Continental.
Read the full story: financialtimes.com
Associated Press | Kraft Foods Inc.’s acquisition of Cadbury PLC
will not result in layoffs at Kraft’s four New York facilities,
including its cream cheese plant here, according to U.S. Sen. Charles
E. Schumer.
“I spoke today to the CEO of Kraft, and she assured me that Kraft loves
New York and the first-class New York work force that make their
operations here so productive,” Sen. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a
Wednesday release. “Thousands of New Yorkers can sleep easier tonight,
knowing their jobs are safe and not threatened by this merger.”
From Reuters | BM&FBovespa SA, the owner of Latin America’s biggest exchange, said it would raise its stake in Chicago-based CME Group Inc.and signed an agreement to partner in the creation of a new electronic trading platform.
Read the full story: reuters.com
By Bruce Japsen and Associated Press | European regulators gave Abbott Laboratories antitrust clearance to buy Solvay’s pharmaceutical business for $6.6 billion, with certain sales conditions.
Under the clearance, Abbott will have to divest Solvay’s cystic fibrosis testing business. European regulators cited concerns that the combination could harm competition in that market.
The North Chicago-based maker of drugs and medical products expects the deal to close by the end of this month.
From the Financial Times | Kraft said it planned to shutter a Cadbury plant in Bristol, England, which produces Crunchie and Curly Wurly bars, despite stating during the bidding process that it could keep the plant open.
Read the full story: financialtimes.com
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | Morningstar
Inc., announced its acquisition of the Footnoted business of Financial
Fineprint Inc., including the Web site Footnoted.org and the Footnoted
Pro service. Terms of the deal between Morningstar and the privately
held company were not disclosed.
Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld speaks during a town hall meeting for all Kraft and Cadbury employees at Kraft Headquarters Friday. (William DeShazer/Chicago Tribune)
By Mike Hughlett | The better-late-than-never imprimatur of Cadbury PLC’s board and top management will be important in seemlessly melding the big British candy maker into its new owner, Kraft Foods Inc. So said Kraft Chief Executive officer Irene Rosenfeld in an interview with the Tribune Friday.
Kraft’s almost five-month quest to buy Cadbury was all but completed Tuesday when over 70 percent of Cadbury’s shareholders voted to accept a roughly $19 billion bid. Kraft had been pursuing a $16.7 billion hostile takeover of Cadbury, but upped its bid two weeks ago, and Cadbury’s board accepted on friendly terms.
“That went a long way towards smoothing things over,” Rosenfeld said.
Associated Press | Kraft Foods Inc. said it will delist shares of Cadbury PLC on the London Stock Exchange, now that it has clinched a takeover of the British chocolate and gum company. Kraft gave 20 business days’ notice of its intention to delist, and said it expects Cadbury to be removed from the London Stock Exchange March 8.
Tribune staff report | Northbrook-based Underwriters Laboratories Inc.said it has acquired Luminaire Testing Laboratory in Allentown, Penn. LTL is an independent testing laboratory that provides performance testing of lamps and luminaires.
Read the release: prnewswire.com
Associated Press | Three top officials at Cadbury PLC announced Wednesday their intention to step down, after the British candy maker’s shareholders approved Kraft Foods Inc.’s roughly $19.5 billion offer to acquire the company.
By Wailin Wong | IBM Corp. said Wednesday it is buying Initiate Systems, a Chicago-based company whose software helps the healthcare industry organize and manage data across disparate computer systems.
By Kiah Haslett | To finance its acquisition of Cadbury PLC, Kraft Foods is planning a four-part bond sale raising up to $4 billion.
Kraft hopes to raise at least $1 billion each offering at sales expected today or tomorrw, Reuters reported. The sale will include 3.25-year, 6-year, 10-year notes and 30-year bonds and will be financed through Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and RBS.
By Wailin Wong | Motorola’s venture capital arm said it made an investment in Scanbuy Inc., a technology company that specializes in bar codes for mobile phones. Financial terms were not disclosed.
By Mike Hughlett | Kraft Foods Inc. on said it has won support from 71.7 percent of Cadbury PLC’s shareholders, giving the Northfield-based food giant control of the world’s largest publicly-traded confectionary company.
After months of hostilities between the two companies, Kraft on Jan. 19 raised its bid to more than $19 billion, and Cadbury’s board accepted, making it friendly in the end.
By Wailin Wong | Chicago-based Appolicious Inc., a social networking Web site that reviews mobile phone applications, said it has acquired Orlando-based AppVee, which runs appvee.com and androidapps.com, both review sites for mobile applications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
