Hershey Unlikely to Bid for Cadbury: Report

HERSHEY, Pa. (TheStreet) -- Hershey(HSY Quote) is unlikely to put together a bid for Cadbury(CBY Quote) because it is too small to support the debt load needed to make an offer, a report says.

That leaves Cadbury with few alternatives to the $16.7 billion unsolicited bid from Kraft Foods(KFT Quote), the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Company executives and the charitable trust that controls Hershey have been considering countermoves since Kraft offered to buy U.K. confectionary maker Cadbury almost a month ago, the newspaper reports. But Hershey has no financing and hasn't come up with a strategic plan for a bid. Hershey has annual revenue of about $5 billion.

On Wednesday, Kraft was given until Nov. 9 by the U.K.'s Takeover Panel to make a firm offer for Cadbury or announce it doesn't plan to submit a bid.

If Kraft doesn't make an offer it will be restricted from making a new proposal for six months under U.K. rules.

Cadbury said Wednesday it hasn't changed its view on a potential deal and reiterates that it still rejects Kraft's approach.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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