Green & Black's wants an escape route from Kraft

Kraft's controversial takeover of Cadbury ran into further trouble today, when it emerged that a high-profile subsidiary is seeking a way out.

Green & Black's, the organic chocolate maker that was part of the Cadbury deal, is looking at a management buyout to escape the corporate clutches of the US giant.

This morning's Financial Times reports that the firm thinks its entreprenurial spirit is being crushed by Kraft, the largest food company in the US with sales topping $40 billion (£25.17 billion).

That seems to be in keeping with fears which were expressed by many at the time of Kraft's £11 billion takeover of Cadbury last year.

Cadbury's then chief executive Todd Stitzer said while fending off the bid that it did not "need to be consumed into a lumbering corporate monolith".

Shareholders, many of them hedge funds, took a different view.

Kraft was wrapped over the knuckles by the City Takeover Panel for its conduct during the deal and was attacked by politicians and Cadbury staff.

It has since moved Cadbury's headquarters to a holding company in Zurich for tax purposes, attracting more criticism.

It is thought that Green & Black's approached Kraft with a proposal to spin-off from the US giant at the end of last year, but the idea was rejected.

Cadbury bought Green & Black's six years ago for an estimated £20 million, having already taken a small stake in the group in 2002.

Green & Black's was founded as an ethical, fairtrade and organic chocolate firm in 1991 by Whole Earth Foods entrepreneur Craig Sams and his wife, Josephine Fairley.

Speculation over a management buyout first emerged last summer when former Cadbury's chief strategy officer Mark Reckitt quit Kraft to work in the US while also acting as a consultant to Green & Black's for one day a week.

Kraft did not return a call seeking comment on the story.