Confectionery giant Cadbury says it will take “years not months” to rebuild consumer trust in New Zealand after widespread criticism over its use of palm oil.

Daniel Ellis, corporate affairs manager for Cadbury’s owner Kraft Foods, says New Zealanders have been a lot more “passionate” about the fact that Cadbury chocolate containing substituted cocoa butter with vegetable fat, including palm oil, was on shelves for 10 weeks before it was exposed.

Among some high-profile Overseas Investment Office consents granted last month was a very mysterious application.

The list of OIO decision summaries for February - released by Land Information New Zealand - features approval for Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury’s New Zealand assets and Aussie company Amalgamated Holdings’ purchase of Sky City Cinema Holdings.

But one of the decision summaries is titled “Confidential” and it details consent being granted for a purchase by a 100% Australian-owned applicant of a 100% New Zealand-owned vendor.

Long-term Cadbury shareholders have been rewarded with a 50% gain over the pre-bid price after finally bowing to a new takeover offer from Kraft Foods.

The new offer comprises 500p a share in cash and Kraft stock worth a total of 840p, In addition, Cadbury will pay a special 10p a share dividend. All up, it is worth £11.9 billion ($US19.7 billion).

It was sweet enough to convince Cadbury’s long-standing shareholders, who had resisted the bid.

Kraft Foods is expected to announce tonight (NZ time) an offer that is acceptable to the board of Cadbury, opening the door to the creation of a giant food and confectionery company.

Overseas reports say Kraft is closing in on a deal that will be worth as much as $US19 billion.

A successful deal, made as Kraft’s deadline to sweeten its offer expires, will end more than four months of public verbal sparring that followed the initial hostile takeover approach back in September.

The British chocolate war has hotted up with US reports that Hershey plans to bid at least $US17.9 billion next week for Cadbury against Kraft Foods’ $US17.2 billion offer.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Hershey is putting the finishing touches on a financial package that includes a loan of at least $US10 billion from banks including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Stocks on Wall Street pushed higher as a rally in the tech sector offset lagging consumer stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 29.78 points, or 0.3%, higher at 10,710.55, above last Friday's 15-month high.

Four technology components were among the Dow's top performers, including Intel, up 1.3%, before the microchip maker released sharply increased earnings after the closing bell.

IBM was up 1.1% while Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard were also strong. Merck led the measure, up 1.7%.