Unilever shares soared this morning after food conglomerate Kraft-Heinz, backed by Warren Buffett and Brazil’s 3G, confirmed it made a 112bn takeover offer for Unilever, leading to a 11% surge in the shares of the London-listed Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, the biggest one day surge since 1987. Shares of Kraft Heinz rose over 4% premarket in New York.
In a statement issued shortly after the FT reported earlier on Friday that Kraft Heinz had made an approach to Unilever, Kraft said that Unilever declined its initial offer, but added “while Unilever has declined the proposal, we look forward to working to reach agreement on the terms of a transaction.”
The U. S. food and beverage maker said it is uncertain that any further formal proposal will be made to Unilever or that an offer will be made at all. It also said the terms of any such transaction are uncertain.
With Unilever’s market capitalization of 112bn, a potential takeover would be one of the largest in history. The company is the world’s fourth-largest consumer goods company by sales, with revenues last year of 52.7 billion. As the FT adds, “a deal would unite some of the biggest brands in the global consumer good industry, adding the likes of Dove and Knorr to the Kraft Heinz roster, which spans Philadelphia cream cheese, ketchup and Weight Watchers.”
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Feb 17, 2017.
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