Inside Wall Street: Heinz May Be on the Takeover Menu

Get ready for another food fight: H.J. Heinz (HNZ) may be a takeover target.

When I last wrote about the food giant in my Inside Wall Street column in BusinessWeek's Oct. 12, 2009 issue, I tagged it as a potential takeover target, then trading at $39 a share. It has since leaped to $42, and may well continue to rise. The reason: After Cadbury (CBY) agreed on Jan. 5 to be acquired by Kraft (KFT), ketchup and baby-food maker Heinz now stands out as one of the few major independent food companies -- and in so many ways ripe for the picking.