Train: Kraft's offer for Unilever paves way for a lot more M&A this year

EM-focused companies looking appealing

Finsbury Growth & Income investment trust manager Nick Train believes Kraft's offer for Unilever is a sign of "a lot more and a lot bigger" M&A to come this year, with emerging market focused firms looking particularly attractive.

In an update for investors, Train reflected on the fall-out from the failed bid for UK consumer staples giant Unilever by Kraft. In February, Kraft offered £115bn to buy Unilever and caused the consumer giant's shares to rally 14%. However, Kraft withrew its offer just two days after making it, after Unilever rejected the offered price. Train said the deal showed three things about the current investment environment: the size of the deal, appealing nature of emerging market-focused companies and the growth in M&A activity. Global M&A activity this year has already exceeded the leve...