LONDON BRIEFING:When the dust settles on the latest in a long line of high-profile takeovers, 46,000 Cadbury workers will fret over proposed $675m cost savings, writes FIONA WALSH

AMID THE outbreak of national mourning that greeted Cadbury’s dramatic decision yesterday to surrender 186 years of independence, there were the usual cries that “something must be done”.

One far-flung member of the founding Cadbury family described the Kraft takeover as “a horror story”. The US conglomerate “won’t understand the history and quality of the company” said Felicity Loudon, great granddaughter of George Cadbury.

Forgetting, perhaps, that the Cadbury family itself sold out some years ago, she continued: “They will cut corners, they will sell out. To me, they are a plastic cheese company, and this is the jewel in the crown.”

The blogs and message boards raged with similar comments, reflecting widespread anger that yet another great British name is to be swallowed up by an overseas predator, joining the roll-call that includes British Steel, Jaguar Land Rover, PO, BAA, Pilkington and Boots. In terms of size, the Kraft takeover is the eighth largest foreign takeover of a British company.

There were renewed calls for anything from a total ban on foreign takeovers of British companies to a nationwide consumer boycott of Kraft Foods products. These range from Oreo cookies to Kenco coffee and Philadelphia cheese spread.

British prime minister Gordon Brown weighed in too, firing a warning shot at Kraft over potential job losses once the deal goes through. We are determined, the prime minister said, “that jobs in Cadbury can be secure”. Business minister Lord Mandelson, vocal in his support for Cadbury’s independence, is also seeking urgent meetings with the US group.

Quite how the prime minister intends to ensure the security of Cadbury’s 6,000-strong UK workforce is unclear; there are no laws that stipulate British jobs must be saved, even in the run-up to a general election.

Kraft’s Irene Rosenfeld is likely to take as much notice of his comments as she did of Cadbury chairman Roger Carr when he labelled Kraft a “low growth conglomerate” and dismissed its bid as “derisory”.

By yesterday morning, Carr was expressing a rather different view of Kraft, declaring himself pleased with the commitment the US group had made to Cadbury’s heritage and values. The two companies will now work together to ensure the continued growth of the business, he said.

That’s quite a turnaround and, in the end, it all came down to money, as it invariably does in takeover battles. By upping its terms to 850p a share, valuing the Dairy Milk maker at just short of £12 billion, Kraft secured its victory. The cash element of the deal is now a chunky 500p, which has reassured those investors who were not keen on being saddled with too much Kraft stock. It should also appease Warren Buffett, Kraft’s largest shareholder, who had publicly warned Kraft against issuing too many shares to pay for the deal.

In any case, Kraft does not now need the approval of its own shareholders to press ahead with the takeover.

Some institutional shareholders in the UK had been holding out for an offer nearer 900p, but Cadbury’s fate was effectively sealed by the willingness of its sizeable hedge fund shareholder base to take the new Kraft terms. It is still possible that a rival bidder might emerge – the UK Takeover Panel has given America’s Hershey group and the Italian Ferrero until next Monday to take a move. But it looks highly unlikely, given the Cadbury board’s acceptance of the new deal.

For Todd Stitzer, Cadbury’s US chief executive, the blow of Kraft’s victory will be softened by the collection of a large cheque. His shareholding in the group is now worth somewhere in the region of £7 million. Victory for Kraft’s Rosenfeld will be sweet, although it may be fleeting. Had she failed to secure Cadbury, her job would have been on the line. Now she faces the task of making the deal work. Kraft has saddled itself with an extra £7 billion of debt to fund the takeover, and she will need to push through the proposed $675 million of cost savings swiftly.

The board may have agreed the deal, and shareholders will follow, but Cadbury’s 46,000 worldwide workforce will understandably be far less welcoming of their new masters. All the talk at Cadbury’s British headquarters in Bournville was of job losses, as it has been for months, and that will be replicated in Cadbury plants and offices worldwide.

Consumers, too, are worried about what will happen to their favourite brands. Will the Americans appreciate the vital national importance of the Curly Wurly, for example? It is always a challenge to make takeovers pay. But when a deal involves a national icon, the task becomes that much harder. For Kraft, the real battle is just beginning.

Fiona Walsh writes for the Guardiannewspaper in London