Kraft bosses face a grilling over Cadbury deal

BOSSES at Kraft Foods will be quizzed by MPs today about its £11.5bn takeover of Birmingham chocolate maker Cadbury.

Members of the Business Select Committee will be questioning vice president Marc Firestone about the company’s strategy and why it allowed the Cadbury factory at Keynsham, near Bristol, to close after initially indicating it would stay open.

There has been widespread condemnation of the cheese and cookie company by unions and politicians over its handling of the takeover and for the way it apparently misled workers.

Complaints have been lodged with the City’s takeover panel, which oversees takeovers and mergers, while the issue has raised wider questions about whether British companies should be better protected against hostile takeovers.

The select committee will also hear from unions representing Cadbury workers, as well as current Cadbury managers.

The Keynsham plant was set to close anyway under the former Cadbury regime as the company looked to cut costs by shipping production to low-cost facilities in Poland.

It is thought the closure plans were too well advanced to reverse and so Kraft was left with little alternative than to shut down the plant.