UK Should Cut Impact of Funds on M&A, Says Cadbury’s Carr

The UK should reduce the impact of hedge funds on merger and acquisition activity, Cadbury’s outgoing chairman Roger Carr said.

Carr expressed his views during a speech at Oxford University after his company had completed the $18bn sale to Kraft Foods.

Carr said that the hedge funds, which amounts a 30% interest in the company in the run-up to the takeover, helped Kraft in its bid, The Times reports.

“In the final analysis, it was the shift in the register that lost the battle for Cadbury – the owners were progressively not long-term stewards of the business but financially motivated investors judged solely on their own quarterly financial performance,” Carr said.

Carr said the UK should revise its acquisition rules to decrease the impact of hedge funds on takeover bids.

New rules should be implemented to permit 60% stakeholder approval for a takeover instead of the current 50.1%, according to Times Online.

The takeover panel, however, has opposed Carr’s proposal saying that it would make hostile takeovers virtually impossible.