Buffett brokers Mars’s $23bn Wrigley takeover

The deal brokered by the world's richest man and America's iconic investment guru will have profound implications for Cadbury, with speculation immediately reigniting that the
UK-based chocolate group will make an offer for US rival Hershey.

The intensely secretive, privately held Mars Inc is putting up $11 billion for the deal, in which Buffett's investment group Berkshire Hathaway is providing further finance of $4.4 billion, as well as buying a $2.1 billion stake in Wrigley
once the deal is done. The rest of the cash, around $5.7 billion, is being lent by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

The offer price of $80 a share for Wm Wrigley Jr Co is at a 28% premium to Friday's closing price.
"There's really nothing that can go wrong with something like the Wrigley and Mars brands. People are eating more and more of their products every day," said Buffett, a long-time financial
backer of the world's biggest brands like Coca-Cola and Gillette.

That Wrigley is falling to a company with even greater marketing and financial firepower will not be welcomed at Cadbury, which is in the final throes of demerging its Dr Pepper and Snapple
American drinks arm.

Cadbury bought Wrigley's arch-rival, the American chewing gum-maker Adams, for £2.7 billion in 2003 and has since been pushing its Trident brand in the UK in an attempt to break Wrigley's stranglehold on the market. Wrigley's has more than 35% of the UK gum market, with Cadbury
second at 25%.

The arrival of new Wrigley's owners with such deep pockets could spark more corporate activity at Cadbury, and analysts say it could now look to
merge with its US chocolate rival Hershey & Co — a deal that was discussed as recently as a year ago.

Gum is reckoned to be the fastest-growing confectionery sector as company's like Wrigley's and Cadbury push to have it redefined as a health food that is good for the teeth.

Despite declining sales in the UK — where there has been a war on antisocial gum-chewers discarding their gum in the street — Britons still spend £300 million a year on gum.

Buffett recently eclipsed Bill Gates as the richest man in the world, with a personal fortune put at $62 billion by Forbes magazine.