沃伦·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)昨日出人意料地介入以英国糖果品牌吉百利(Cadbury)为目标的收购战，告诫美国食品公司卡夫(Kraft)不要动用太多的本公司股票，为这宗107亿英镑（合171亿美元）的敌意收购筹资。
Warren Buffett yesterday unexpectedly marched into the takeover battle for UK confectioner Cadbury, telling Kraft it should not use too much of its stock to finance the £10.7bn ($17.1bn) hostile deal.
这名亿万富翁投资者发表上述言论之际，适逢卡夫表示，将利用向雀巢(Nestle)出售北美比萨饼业务所得的37亿美元，来提高自己对 吉百利现有报价中现金的比例。巴菲特旗下的伯克希尔哈撒韦(Berkshire Hathaway)投资集团是卡夫的最大股东，持有卡夫9.4%的股份。
The intervention by the billionaire investor came as the US group said it would increase the proportion of cash in its existing offer for Cadbury from the proceeds of a $3.7bn sale of its North American pizza business to Nestlé. Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment group is Kraft's largest shareholder with a 9.4 per cent stake.
雀巢也正式表示，无意整体或部分收购吉百利，这一表态与巴菲特的言论相结合，使吉百利股价与卡夫出价之间的溢价从周一的近10%，缩减 到昨日的2.7%多一点。虽然巴菲特的言论最初压低了吉百利的股价（原因是投资者担心交易可能告吹），但有些股东称，这番言论实际上可能帮助卡夫如愿以 偿。
Nestlé also formally said it had no interest in bidding for all or part of Cadbury, which combined with Mr Buffett's comments to narrow the bid premium between Cadbury's share price and Kraft's offer to just over 2.7 per cent, from almost 10 per cent on Monday. Although Mr Buffett's comments initially sent Cadbury's shares lower on fears that they could derail the bid, some shareholders suggested it could in practice help Kraft clinch the deal.
“巴菲特压低了吉百利的股价，这很可能帮了卡夫管理层一个忙，”一位美国机构基金经理表示。
“Buffett may be very well doing a favour for the Kraft management to bring down the stock price of Cadbury,” said one US-based institutional fund manager.
吉百利股票在伦敦市场收盘下跌3.23%，至779便士，而卡夫在纽约后市交易中涨3.06%，至28.27美元，相当于卡夫对吉百利的每股出价达到758便士。
Cadbury's share price closed down 3.23 per cent at 779p in London, while Kraft's share price rose 3.06 per cent to $28.27 in afternoon trading in New York, valuing Kraft's offer at £7.58 per Cadbury share.
卡夫表示，已将收购报价中的现金部分从300便士提高到360便士，这在一定程度上是回应股东对公司的要求，即“少用估值偏低的卡夫食品股票作为收购货币”。
Kraft said it had increased the cash element of the bid from 300p to 360p, partially in response to its shareholders who wanted it “to be more sparing in its use of undervalued Kraft Foods shares as currency for the offer”.