Food giant Kraft has today gone hostile in its £10bn bid to take over Cadbury with an approach direct to the confectioner's shareholders.

Kraft this afternoon (4 December) posted documents to Cadbury shareholders outlining its offer of 300p and 0.26 Kraft shares for every share in Cadbury. The offer values the chocolate group at £10.1bn and is unchanged from the two approaches Kraft made to the Cadbury board last month and in September.

On both occasions, Cadbury rejected the offer, which values each Cadbury share at around 713p, describing it the second time around as "derisory". Shares in Cadbury were trading at over 800p this afternoon.

It is so far unclear exactly how any acquisition would affect the two groups' packaging suppliers.

At the time of the original offer in September, Kraft separately announced that it was looking to halve its supplier base and save more than $300m every year by streamlining its procurement process following a string of acquisitions. 

However, it is far from certain that Kraft will succeed in its aim of acquiring Cadbury. Hershey and Ferrero, two other giants of the confectionary market, have said they are considering their options over a possible bid.

In today's statement, Kraft Foods chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld said: "We remain confident that the unique combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury would create a significant growth opportunity for both businesses.

"That's why we believe this Offer is in the best interest of both companies' shareholders. Our offer is fully financed, represents a substantial premium to Cadbury's unaffected share price and provides both immediate value certainty and meaningful longer-term upside potential."