CREME CHEESE EGGS..

Story of the week for me has to be the Kraft takeover of Cadbury's to yield the world's largest confectioner (behind Willy Wonka of course!).

Question: Will Creme Eggs ever be the same again?

Given that Kraft's processed cheese business is the largest in the world (by a long way) I do hope they don't start stuffing gloopy cheese into those eggs in place of the sweeter delicacy of sugary filling that graces them at present! I'd give it a go, but only once I think?

Some of the objections in the UK appear to revolve around the fact that a social institution such as Cadbury's - large Victorian family, built a village around their factory, invested in a lot of social infrastructure, etc etc - should be eaten up by a US mega-corporation. Like it doesn't happen every week of the year? But this time it's personal - a very large % of the UK population have been brought up on Cadbury's products and there will always be resistance to change. Think Marathon's re-branding to Snickers (possibly a bad example?) or the takeover of another staple Victorian social institiution Rowntree by Nestle..

Perhaps more worrying for those who have part of their pension pot stuffed into Creme Eggs, Dairy Milk and drinking chocolate (that'd be nice!) is the fact that Cadbury's largest shareholder, the billionaire and clearly exceedingly wise investor Warren Buffet, thinks it's a bad idea...

The takeover is going ahead at a 500p per share cash payment plus shares in Kraft which bring the valuation to 840p per share (up from an original approach by Kraft of 770p). Looks ok given that in the last year Cadbury shares have traded between 486.50 and 836.50 per share.

But, and it's a big BUT! At the same time, Kraft Foods rating has been severely downgraded to the lowest investment grade BBB- because they are not buying Cadbury with their own money (which they do not have enough of.. sound familiar?) but with leveraged finance (posh word for approximately $11 billion of debt!) and Kraft stocks which are at poor value.

Will they get away with it? Only time will tell.

On a lighter note if you take a look at the portfolio of Kraft and Cadbury products and mash them up a little, the possibiltiies are endless and mind-boggling..

Cadbury already own; Green & Black's organic chocolate, Maynards, Bassett's licorice, Fry's, Trebor, Trident in addition to their staples Curly Wurly, Dairy Milk, Creme Eggs, Crunchie, Cluster Bars, Flake, Double Decker, Wispa, Twirl, Fudge and on and on

Kraft own; Nabisco, Maxwell House, Oreo's, Milka Products, Philadelphia cheese, Oscar Mayer (cold meat products/hot dogs etc), Vegemite, Peek Freans (Bourbon and Garibaldi biscuits etc)..

Licorice Allsorts with Philadelphia creme cheese filling?
Extra Strong Mint Creme Egg anyone?
Hot Dog flavoured Dairy Milk?
Vegemite Green & Black's?