Warren Buffett has cooled talk Kraft Heinz – in which the US billionaire is the largest investor – could look to make a move to buy Mondelez International.
A number of Wall Street analysts have suggested in recent months Kraft Heinz, which Buffett controls with Brazilian private-equity firm 3G Capital, might bid for the Cadbury and Oreo owner after failing to land Unilever.
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In an interview with broadcaster CNBC, Buffett was asked about whether Kraft Heinz would make an offer for Mondelez. “I think the answer is no on that,” he said.
Buffett also told CNBC Kraft Heinz’s proposed US$115bn bid for Unilever, which the company set out to the consumer goods giant earlier this year, was a genuine acquisition attempt and not a hostile act.
“That was a misunderstanding basically,” he said. “We will not make hostile takeover offers and we did not intend that to be hostile but it turned out it was, and we immediately, the next day, called it off. It was a misunderstanding.”
The bid, made in February, was swiftly rebuffed by Unilever, and the food giants issued a joint statement which said Kraft Heinz had “amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies”.
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