Antitrust and a breakup of Cadbury

Cadbury plc (NYSE:CBY) is expected next week to publish a formal defense (The Deal Pipeline subscription required) to Kraft Foods Inc.'s (NYSE:KFT) $16.3 billion hostile bid. In the meantime, the U.K. confectioner may be hoping a competing bid materializes from some combination of Pennsylvania-based Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY), Nestle SA of Vevey, Switzerland or Italy's Ferrero International SA. There's also been talk that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. might be interested in a bite of Cadbury. If another offer does arrive, it may bring with it some serious antitrust scrutiny, says John Briggs, co-chair of the antitrust practice group at Axinn, Veltrop and Harkrider LLP.

Deal Video | December 8, 2009

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