Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Companies worldwide have led $36 billion of takeovers in the past 10 days, according to Bloomberg data. Walt Disney Co. agreed on Aug. 31 to buy comic-book creator Marvel Entertainment Inc. for about $4 billion. The same day, Baker Hughes Inc. agreed to buy BJ Services Co. for $5.5 billion in the largest oilfield-services company takeover since 1998. EBay Inc. agreed a day later to sell 65 percent of its Skype Internet-calling unit to a group led by firm Silver Lake for about $2 billion.
The flurry of takeovers shows that “confidence in the corporate sector has risen off the floor, where it was a year ago,” Lucy MacDonald, who manages $6.8 billion as chief investment officer at RCM UK Ltd., said in a Bloomberg television interview. “Secondly, corporate balance sheets have recovered quite significantly in the last year. We’d expect to see M&A picking up from relatively low levels.”
Kraft Foods Inc.’s 10.2 billion- pound ($16.7 billion) bid for Cadbury Plc may be a sign that Europe’s frozen takeover market is beginning to thaw after the slowest August in five years.
Kraft, the maker of Oreo cookies, said yesterday it would pursue the acquisition after the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate rejected the offer. The 745 pence-a-share proposal may trigger a competing offer from Nestle SA and Hershey Co., forcing Kraft to increase its bid, according to Warren Ackerman, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London.
The acquisition would be the biggest cross-border deal this year and follows the $21 billion of European takeovers announced in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Companies are revisiting plans for mergers that had been shelved during the credit crisis amid signs the recession may be easing. The MSCI World Index has gained 58 percent since hitting a 14-year-low in March, making it easier for firms to fund takeovers with stock.
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