Kraft Closes in on Cadbury Deal

Kraft has won a sweet victory in its 4-month-long battle to take over Cadbury, according to sources who expect a deal to be announced today, barring last-minute complications. The British chocolate maker's board has agreed to accept Kraft's improved offer of roughly $19 billion in cash and stock in a buyout that will create a food industry behemoth with sales of over $50 billion a year, insiders tell the New York Times.

The decision to stop fighting Kraft's takeover attempt was taken with "a heavy heart," a source at Cadbury tells the Guardian, but the board was left with little choice after shareholders indicated they would accept the higher offer. The takeover bid was strongly opposed by unions, who fear cost-cutting and massive job losses will result, and by British politicians who worry that the foreign takeover will dent national pride.
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