LONDON — Kraft Heinz Co. said Friday that it had offered to buy Unilever in a $143 billion deal that would potentially combine some of the world’s best known consumer brands.
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Kraft said its offer had been declined, but that it looked forward to "working to reach agreement on the terms of a transaction."
Unilever said, however, that the proposal "fundamentally undervalues" the company and that it saw "no merit, either financial or strategic" for the deal. It said it saw no basis for further discussions.
The Financial Times’s Alphaville blog earlier reported the offer.
The deal, if it were to happen, would combine Unilever consumer staples like Dove soap, Hellman’s mayonnaise and Lipton tea with Kraft Heinz’s Oscar Mayer weiners, Heinz ketchup and Kraft macaroni and cheese.
Kraft offered to pay $50 a share in cash and shares, representing an 18 percent premium to the British company’s closing price Thursday, Unilever said.
The proposal would have consisted of $30.23 a share in cash payable in U.S. dollars and 0.222 in shares in the combined company.
"There can be no certainty that any further formal proposal will be made to the board of Unilever or that an offer will be made at all or as to the terms of any transaction," Kraft said in a news release.
Unilever’s shares rose more than 12 percent in afternoon trading in London on Friday after the announcement.
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