News In Brief

By Robert Kilborn, Judy Nichols, and Joshua S. Burek

June 5, 2000

A $15 billion offer for Nabisco by two leading European food producers is imminent, according to a published report. The (London) Sunday Times said the bid would come jointly from Britain's Cadbury Schweppes Plc. and Groupe Danone of France. The latter is the world's largest maker of biscuits and cookies, but its greatest impact in the US has been with its Dannon brand yogurt and Evian bottled water. Cadbury Schweppes, which markets both candies and soft beverages, is believed to be most interested in Nabisco's sugar confectionary business, especially its popular LifeSavers brand.

Merger negotiations are under way between British Airways (BA) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the London newspaper Sunday Business reported. The intent of such a deal would be to give BA a majority stake in the Dutch carrier, with which it tried and failed to merge in 1992. KLM also attempted unsuccessfully to merge with Italy's Alitalia earlier this year. A BA-KLM merger would give the new company a dominant hold on North Atlantic business travel, especially if American Airlines of the US succeeds in its pursuit of rival Northwest Airlines. KLM is a partner of Northwest.