Bestfoods Company

Unilever lifted the deadline on its unsolicited bid for Bestfoods and said it's ready to meet with the target company's board to negotiate a deal. The Anglo Dutch food and consumer products company had set a deadline of close of U.S. business Thursday for a response to its $18.41-billion cash offer for Bestfoods, after the U.S. group rejected the bid. "We've already responded to their offer. Our board of directors has unanimously rejected it.

European regulators cleared a $20-billion deal under which consumer goods giant Unilever would purchase Bestfoods, creating the world's biggest food company. The European Commission imposed several conditions on the deal, including the sale of a significant number of brands such as Lesieur, Royco and Oxo. Without the divestments, the acquisition would have produced competition problems in the food service sector in Scandinavia, Ireland and Britain, the commission said.

European regulators cleared a $20-billion deal under which consumer goods giant Unilever would purchase Bestfoods, creating the world's biggest food company. The European Commission imposed several conditions on the deal, including the sale of a significant number of brands such as Lesieur, Royco and Oxo. Without the divestments, the acquisition would have produced competition problems in the food service sector in Scandinavia, Ireland and Britain, the commission said.

Bestfoods on Tuesday agreed to a sweetened buyout offer from Unilever of $20.3 billion, or $73 a share, that would create the world's biggest food maker. The Anglo-Dutch company won over Bestfoods Chairman Charles Shoemate by raising its cash offer a month after he rejected a bid for $66 a share. Shoemate opened merger talks with Campbell Soup Co., Diageo and H.J. Heinz Co., people close to the situation have said.

H.J. Heinz Co. refused comment and Bestfoods denied rumors that the two companies were in merger talks, but investors bid up their shares on the prospect of a takeover boosting the value of the food companies' stocks. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Bestfoods issued a statement saying "no significant acquisition or combination discussions are in progress" after a Wall Street Journal report that the two companies had discussed a merger.

Takeover target Bestfoods' highly public game of cat and mouse with its European suitor Unilever is apparently starting to leave a sour taste in the mouths of Bestfoods' investors. Bestfoods, the maker of such well-known household brands as Skippy peanut butter, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr soups, is reportedly mulling a new and improved $20.5-billion offer from Unilever, while at the same time negotiating to purchase Campbell Soup Co. for $15 billion.

Bestfoods on Tuesday agreed to a sweetened buyout offer from Unilever of $20.3 billion, or $73 a share, that would create the world's biggest food maker. The Anglo-Dutch company won over Bestfoods Chairman Charles Shoemate by raising its cash offer a month after he rejected a bid for $66 a share. Shoemate opened merger talks with Campbell Soup Co., Diageo and H.J. Heinz Co., people close to the situation have said.

Takeover target Bestfoods' highly public game of cat and mouse with its European suitor Unilever is apparently starting to leave a sour taste in the mouths of Bestfoods' investors. Bestfoods, the maker of such well-known household brands as Skippy peanut butter, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr soups, is reportedly mulling a new and improved $20.5-billion offer from Unilever, while at the same time negotiating to purchase Campbell Soup Co. for $15 billion.

Unilever lifted the deadline on its unsolicited bid for Bestfoods and said it's ready to meet with the target company's board to negotiate a deal. The Anglo Dutch food and consumer products company had set a deadline of close of U.S. business Thursday for a response to its $18.41-billion cash offer for Bestfoods, after the U.S. group rejected the bid. "We've already responded to their offer. Our board of directors has unanimously rejected it.

H.J. Heinz Co. refused comment and Bestfoods denied rumors that the two companies were in merger talks, but investors bid up their shares on the prospect of a takeover boosting the value of the food companies' stocks. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Bestfoods issued a statement saying "no significant acquisition or combination discussions are in progress" after a Wall Street Journal report that the two companies had discussed a merger.