Managers back Cadbury board over Kraft takeover

The Cadbury board has advised its shareholders to accept a new offer of 850p a share, which includes a special 10p per share dividend for Cadbury shareholders. It values the company at £11.5bn, far in excess of Kraft's £9.8bn hostile bid last year, which Cadbury labelled as "derisory". The offer consists of 500p in cash, with the rest made of Kraft shares. Kraft will borrow £7bn to finance the deal. Octopus Investments fund manager David Crawford, who bought Cadbury shares after the initial takeover approach, says the high final level offered by Kraft came as a surprise. "I am v...