Hershey: No interest in Cadbury merger
An official said the firm had no desire to lose control of the company.
The Hershey Co.'s largest shareholder isn't interested in relinquishing control of the company even though rival candy-maker Cadbury Schweppes P.L.C. has shown interest in a possible merger.
"We have never expressed any interest, nor do we have an interest, in losing control," LeRoy Zimmerman, chairman of Hershey Trust Co., said yesterday in a telephone interview from Harrisburg. The trust was started by Hershey's founder and controls about 78 percent of the voting power in the company.
Cadbury Schweppes chief executive officer Todd Stitzer said last week that a merger with Hershey would benefit Hershey now more than in 2002, when a joint Cadbury-Nestlé S.A. bid was blocked by the trust, the Financial Times reported March 28.
Zimmerman declined to comment on a possible bid from Cadbury.
"At this point in time, it's pure speculation," he said. "We support the Hershey Co.'s board, and we certainly support their expansion of their global footprint in a very competitive marketplace."
Besides the voting control, the trust has about 31 percent of the equity in Hershey, the largest U.S. chocolate-maker.
The trust was established by company founder Milton Hershey and wife, Catherine, in 1909. It exercises voting rights on behalf of Milton Hershey School, a private school for children.
Zimmerman, 72, a former Pennsylvania attorney general, said the trust was confident in chief executive Richard Lenny's efforts to cut costs and gain customers from rivals.
"In the final analysis, that's in the best interest of the trust and the school," he said.
Hershey shares rose 90 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $55.56 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have gained 11 percent this year.
