Mondelez’s pursuit of Hershey has fallen apart. Not even moving its HQ and changing its name was persuasion enough.You will remember that the US$23bn cash and stock takeover bid from two months ago was rebuffed by Hershey — Cadbury owner Mondelez offered $107/share (a 10% premium). Mondelez raised its offer to $115/share but Hershey was after something richer, north of $125/share. Large is the place to be but Mondelez was never going to overpay. Any price above $128 wouldn’t make financial sense. The suitor was keen, not desperate.The purchase price was not the only problem. There were trust issues. Hershey is gripped by an incestuous charitable trust that wields about 81% of its votes, and holds roughly 8.4% of its common stock — this gives it the ability to tell unwanted suitors to go and jump. The trust was set up by the company’s founder a century ago, to preserve Hershey’s ties to its local community. It counts on Hershey’s dividends to fund operations like the Milton Hershey S...
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