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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, November 10, 2009

BUSINESS BRIEFS
Cadbury battles against Kraft's takeover bid


Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

British candy maker Cadbury PLC rejected a renewed $16.4 billion hostile bid from Kraft Foods Inc., after the U.S. company refused to sweeten a previous offer.

Associated Press file photos

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NEW YORK — Kraft Foods has gone hostile in its bid to buy Cadbury but didn't sweeten its first bid, drawing an immediate rejection from the British candy maker in what is likely to be a lengthy takeover struggle.

Taking the same offer directly to Cadbury shareholders likely means that Kraft is betting no competing bids will emerge for the maker of Dairy Milk and Creme Eggs. The early gambit also leaves the company room to take the bid higher.

Kraft made the offer, worth about $16.4 billion, just hours before a deadline yesterday imposed by Britain's takeover law that required the company to make a formal offer or back off for six months. Kraft now has 28 days to file a prospectus, which will then trigger more deadlines that could last months.

GOOGLE GETS MORE TIME FOR BOOK PLAN

NEW YORK — Google says it needs until Friday to come up with a new proposal that would give it the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books.

The new timetable approved yesterday by a federal judge is the latest twist in a 4-year-old copyright lawsuit over Google's ambitious book-scanning project.

Google thought it had settled the dispute with U.S. authors and publishers more than a year ago. But the agreement still hasn't won court approval because of concerns that the deal would give Google too much control over the digital book market.

When U.S. antitrust regulators raised objections to the agreement in September, Google decided to redo the deal. The revisions were supposed to be filed by the end of yesterday — before Google received the extension.

STROLLERS RECALLED FOR AMPUTATION RISK

WASHINGTON — About a million Maclaren strollers sold by Target and Babies "R" Us were recalled yesterday, after 12 reports of children having their fingertips amputated by a hinge mechanism.

The recall includes all nine models of single and double umbrella Maclaren strollers, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall after an investigation.

The amputation risk occurs when a child's finger is placed in the hinge mechanism of a stroller while it is being unfolded. When the opened stroller locks into place, it can cut off the tip of the child's finger.

FED SAYS GMAC TO GET MORE AID

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said yesterday that GMAC is the only one of 19 stress-tested banks that needs more capital to withstand losses if the economy softens.

GMAC, a crucial player in the U.S. auto industry, has been unable to raise the $11.5 billion regulators said it needed after stress test results were announced in May. The Fed says the finance company is expected to close the gap with more money from the $700 billion financial bailout.

GMAC, already the recipient of $12.5 billion in taxpayer infusions, is negotiating with regulators over how much more it will receive.