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		</div><p>Shares in Unilever have slumped after US food giant Kraft Heinz called off its proposed 143 billion US dollar mega-merger with the consumer goods firm.</p>
<p>The Anglo-Dutch company dropped around 7% on the London Stock Exchange following a joint statement by the two companies on Sunday which said Kraft Heinz had &#8220;amicably agreed&#8221; to withdraw its proposal.</p>
<p>Unilever had issued a strongly-worded rebuttal on Friday after the Chicago-based company tabled an offer representing an 18% premium on Unilever&#8217;s closing share price on February 16.</p>
<p>If successful, the deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a British company on record based on offer value.</p>
<p>A joint statement by the two companies read: &#8220;Unilever and Kraft Heinz hereby announce that Kraft Heinz has amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies.<br />
&#8220;Unilever and Kraft Heinz hold each other in high regard.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kraft Heinz brands include Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Philadelphia cheese, while Unilever owns store-cupboard staples such as Marmite, PG Tips and Hellmann&#8217;s.</p>
<p>The proposed tie-up was expected to meet strong political opposition, with Prime Minister Theresa May said to have asked officials to look at the deal before it was abandoned.</p>
<p>Mrs May vowed last year to devise a &#8221;proper industrial strategy&#8221; to defend UK companies from being snapped up by foreign firms.</p>
<p>US and Asian businesses have ramped up their interest in buying British following the pound&#8217;s 17% plunge against the US dollar since the Brexit vote.</p>
<p>George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said it was surprising to see the deal shelved just one business day after the news broke.</p>
<p>&#8220;The deal was set to top £100 billion, so the size premium would always have been a consideration &#8211; especially since Warren Buffett, one of the biggest names behind the bid, hardly has a reputation for paying anything other than the price he sees fit.</p>
<p>&#8220;What exactly happened in this whirlwind of a story is yet to be fully revealed, but it looks like Unilever isn&#8217;t just playing hard to get.</p>
<p>&#8220;It was always going to be a difficult pitch to convince shareholders to relinquish their grip on Unilever,<br />
given the expectations for the company to keep churning out resilient growth in the years to come.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kraft came under fire in 2010 after pledging to keep a Cadbury factory open in Somerdale near Bath, only to change its mind soon after securing a £11.5 billion hostile takeover of the UK chocolate firm<br />
In 2012, the business spun off the Dairy Milk-maker into a new company called Mondelez.</p>
<p>Kraft Heinz was born three years later after Kraft Foods became the subject of 45 billion US dollar takeover by HJ Heinz Co, owned by US business magnate Mr Buffett&#8217;s Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital.</p>
<p>Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index Direct, said managers at Kraft Heinz would be &#8220;spitting feathers&#8221; after their proposed offer was leaked on Friday.</p>
<p>&#8220;We expect the chief reason to drop the bid was concern about the political atmosphere in Britain, which is currently against foreigners making bids for &#8216;national treasures&#8217;, even half-Dutch ones like Unilever.</p>
<p>&#8220;Also, the leaked announcement sent Unilever shares surging 15% on Friday, so a protracted battle for ownership would have made it an expensive deal for Buffet and co. at Kraft Heinz.&#8221;</p>
<p>A Downing Street spokesman said the Government &#8220;was not involved&#8221; in the ditching of the bid for Unilever.<br />
&#8220;The issue of the withdrawal from the Unilever deal was one for Kraft,&#8221; said the spokesman.</p>
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