Hershey co. has been working with Italian chocolate maker Ferrero Spa to craft a possible joint bid for Cadbury PLC, according to a published report.

It would be the first competing bid since Kraft Foods Inc.’s made its $16.7 billion offer for Cadbury, further raising the stakes for the UK confectionary company.

Hershey and Ferrero executives have been in talks for several weeks and Hershey executives are aggressive about pursuing a deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with matter it did not name.

It remains unclear if an offer will be made. the discussions are in preliminary stages and haven’t included discussions of financial specifics, the Journal reported. the main issue is which company would end up taking control of Cadbury’s lucrative gum and candy business.

Hershey, Cadbury and Kraft officials declined to comment on the report. Kraft said it maintains that its offer is “fair and attractive.”

Representatives of Italian company Ferrero were not immediately available for comment.

Kellogg co., the largest U.S. maker of breakfast cereals, says flooding at an Atlanta facility and repairs at a Tennessee factory will cause Eggo waffle shortages through the middle of next year.

The scarcity was triggered by September’s floods in the Southeast that temporarily closed an Atlanta waffle factory, as well as by equipment problems at the company’s largest waffle plant, in Rossville, Tenn., spokeswoman Kris Charles said in an e-mail Friday.

“We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories to normal levels as quickly as possible,” Charles said.

Kellogg said the shortage was already reflected in its most recent 2009 and 2010 earnings forecasts. the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company doesn’t provide sales figures for specific brands. Bloomberg News

Donald Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump ended their attempt to take control of bankrupt casino company Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.

Donald Trump will receive common stock and warrants for 10 percent of the Atlantic City, N.J.-based company if a reorganization plan he agreed to support is approved, according to an e-mailed statement Tuesday. the agreement is with 61 percent of holders of the company’s $1.25 billion of 8.5 percent senior notes due in 2015.

The Trumps are dropping all litigation against an ad hoc committee of creditors, plan to release the debtors from claims of more than $100 million and will permit the continued use of Donald Trump’s name on the three Atlantic City casinos, according to the statement. he said his competing reorganization plan was becoming “mired in highly expensive and distracting litigation” in dropping his resistance.

“I have always felt a tremendous responsibility to new Jersey, and especially to Atlantic City,” Donald Trump said in the statement. “Therefore, I am motivated to give the properties the best chance to succeed on a reorganized basis.”

Donald Trump, who once owned 29 percent of the company, and Ivanka Trump resigned from the company’s board before it filed for court protection on Feb. 17. he has abandoned his equity interest in the company, according to court papers.

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