Berkshire votes no to Kraft's shares issue for Cadbury

Billionaire Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway, a major shareholder in Kraft Foods, today said it has voted against the company issuing up to 370 million shares to facilitate the proposed buyout of Cadbury.

The news comes on the same day when Kraft raised the cash component of its over 10-billion pounds hostile takeover bid for the British confectionery maker.

In a statement, Berkshire said it has voted "no" on Kraft's proposal to authorise the issuance of up to 370 million shares to facilitate Cadbury acquisition.

The Buffett-led conglomerate pointed out that the share- issuance proposal, if enacted, would give Kraft "a blank check allowing it to change its offer to Cadbury...."

"And we worry very much that, indeed, there will be an additional change from the revision announced this morning," the Buffett-led entity noted.

Kraft has offered more cash for the Cadbury takeover, after the US entity sold its North American pizza business for $3.7 billion.

The statement said that taking into account its own holdings and those of its pension funds, the firm believes that the "138,272,500 Kraft shares it owns – 9.4 per cent of the total outstanding – make it company's (Kraft) largest shareholder".

Berkshire also described the Kraft stock, at its current price of $27, as a very expensive "currency" to be used in an acquisition.

Regarding the planned deal, Berkshire said that if the offer does not destroy value for Kraft shareholders, the firm would change its vote to "yes".

Kraft has to announce its final offer for Cadbury by January 19.

As per the latest proposal, Kraft would increase the cash component of its Cadbury offer by about 60 pence per Cadbury share to 360 pence or 240 pence per Cadbury ADS.

"Kraft Foods is doing this because of the desire expressed by some Cadbury Security holders to have a greater proportion of the offer in cash and because Kraft Foods shareholders have expressed a desire for Kraft Foods to be more sparing in its use of undervalued Kraft Foods Shares as currency for the Offer," the US-based firm said in a separate statement today.