UK confectioner Cadbury will soon find out if it will be the target of a hostile bid by would-be US suitor Kraft Foods.

英国糖果商吉百利不久将会查明自己是否已被美国卡夫食品恶意收购。

Cadbury produces some of the UK's best-known chocolate bars

Under Takeover Panel rules, Kraft has until 1700 GMT on Monday to make a new offer or walk away for six months.

Reports in UK newspapers have suggested Kraft will make a hostile bid directly to shareholders², and Cadbury will resist the approach.

Cadbury in September rejected an approach worth £10.2bn from Kraft.

Kraft's original approach was worth 745 pence per Cadbury share, though the cash-and-stock offer has since declined in value because of a drop in the value of Kraft's shares.

Kraft's bid was for 300p in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, so the offer is worth about 720p now.

But shares in Cadbury have risen about 30% since late August, and are now 758p a share.

Cadbury has said the original Kraft offer "fundamentally undervalued" the firm and that it would prefer to remain independent.

The Sunday Telegraph reported Cadbury chairman Roger Carr has met most of the company's top 50 shareholders in London and New York to persuade them against Kraft's offer.

'Unappealing'

Mr Carr previously³ said in a letter to Kraft chief executive Irene Rosenfeld "Cadbury would be absorbed into Kraft's low growth, conglomerate⁴（凝聚，集合） business model" and that made the offer is an "unappealing prospect⁵".

The Telegraph reported that 820p a share would be a "starting point" for discussions with Kraft, according to some Cadbury shareholders.

The confectionary（糖果） maker⁶ last month reported higher-than expected sales for the third quarter, raising pressure on Kraft to up its bid.

It also raised its forecast for revenue this year to "around the middle" of its previous guidance of 4-6% growth.

As well as Dairy Milk, Cadbury also owns the Green & Black's chocolate brand, Halls lozenges（菱形）, Trident and Dentyne gum brands and liquorice（甘草） allsorts（什锦糖混合物） maker Bassett's.

It spun⁷ off（作为副产品而生产） its drinks division as a separate business last year.

Kraft's brands include Kenco and Maxwell House coffee, Oreo biscuits, Jacobs, Terry's Chocolate Orange and Toblerone, as well as cheese products such as Philadelphia and Dairylea.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, has said the Cadbury offer is "pretty full" as it is.

Mr Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway is the biggest shareholder¹ in Kraft.