Kraft Foods Inc.’s (NYSE: KFT) $16.7 billion unsolicited takeover attempt of Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY) is the latest sign of consolidation in the highly competitive food industry, and will likely lead to two things: A bidding war for Cadbury and further consolidation in the sector.

The world’s second-largest foodmaker went public with its bid for Cadbury earlier this week after being snubbed privately. Kraft’s offer – a 31% premium to the chocolate maker’s Friday closing price of $37.46 a share, but less than  – “fundamentally undervalues” Cadbury, it said. The offer is less than 15 times Cadbury’s 2008 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

“Any follow-up offer by Kraft would likely involve a higher price,” Moody’s Investor Service senior analyst Brian Weddington said in a note. “The increased leverage that would result under the proposed transaction would be considerable.”

Increased leverage could be a boon to Cadbury

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Today we are featuring top-performing “Global" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest equity securities of both U.S. and foreign companies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Global Equity Funds.

3 Superb Choices

Eaton Vance International Equity A (PARWX) seeks total return for shareholders. The fund primarily invests in foreign equity securities.

The fund focuses on a diversified portfolio of foreign common stocks of companies domiciled in countries represented in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East index. As of April 2009, its portfolio turnover was 35%.

Nestle SA, Novartis AG (NVS) and British American Tobacco Plc (BTI) are among the fund’s top holdings.

EM Capital India Gateway A (EMINX) was incepted in July 2007. The investment seeks long-term capital growth and income.

The fund invests at least 80% of its

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Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world’s largest maker of personal computers, offered a preview of its fiscal fourth-quarter profits – reporting that it will beat market expectations and raise its fiscal 2009 outlook. “HP is gaining market share in an extremely strong competitive position. They’ve got share gains, combined with very aggressive cost reduction,” Shannon Cross of Cross Research told Reuters. Lars Olofsson, Executive Vice President of Nestle SA, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour S.A., the world’s second-largest retailer. He’ll ...