Kraft-Unilever, file closed, now what?

Kraft-Heinz's weekend agreement to withdraw its offer to take over Unilever will not be the end of the story...

• Fundamental issues remain for each party
• K-H still need to improve Sales and Margin growth, with acquisition the fastest route
• In preparing for the Unilever bid, K-H's appetite for Home & Personal Care margins will have been whetted... (think Colgate, Kimberly Clark etc. etc.)
• Also, Unilever coverage of emerging markets is complementary to that of K-H, see other options of similar profile
• Meanwhile, moving back from the stock exchange spotlight, Unilever will need to make some signigficant changes to indicate it has 'learned' from the encounter...(think refinition of 'core', sell-offs etc, and more cuts...)
• More significantly, K-H have demonstrated that a company can make a credible bid for a target more than 3x its size in sales revenue...
• In other words, anything goes in terms of potential takovers, anywhere...

A what-if is never wasted...