Hershey says will not make bid for Cadbury

American chocolate maker Hershey Company today said it will not make a counter bid for British confectioner Cadbury, which has accepted the 11.9 billion pound takeover offer from US-based Kraft Foods.

"The Hershey Company announces that it does not intend to make an offer for Cadbury," the company said in a statement.

Hershey was widely speculated to be in the race to acquire Cadbury, after the British firm had repeatedly rejected Kraft bid.

The proposed Kraft-Cadbury deal announced earlier this week, ended months of bitter wrangling between the two companies. As part of the planned acquisition, Kraft would give 500 pence in cash and 0.1874 new Kraft stocks for every Cadbury share.

The American food giant would also offer 2,000 pence in cash and 0.7496 new shares for each Cadbury ADS (American Depository Shares). In addition, Cadbury shareholders would receive ten pence for every share by way of a special dividend.