TODD STITZER’s choice of mug from which to drink his tea was perhaps unfortunate. It was little more than 24 hours since news of a $23 billion (£11.6 billion) tie-up between Mars and Wrigley had leaked out, signalling a seismic shift in the landscape of the global confectionery market.And as Stitzer, Cadbury Schweppes’s chief executive, sat in his office in London’s Berkeley Square reflecting on the deal, he sipped from a cup bearing the legend “Endangered species”.

The Mars-Wrigley deal means Cadbury will no longer be able to call itself the largest confectionery group on the planet.

But Stitzer was defiant. “We won’t be panicked,” he said. “We won’t be diverted from what we have to do with our own business.” If Stitzer considers himself — or Cadbury — an endangered species, he is certainly not letting it show.

The Mars takeover of Wrigley was not foreseen — least of all by Cadbury.

On Sunday, Stitzer spent two hours at the City offices of UBS, the investment bank. There, he watched a rehearsal for a presentation the following morning when analysts would be given a briefing on Cadbury Schweppes’s American soft-drinks business being spun off from the confectionery operation. On Monday morning, Stitzer arrived at Cadbury’s headquarters at seven o’clock. That gave him half an hour to check his e-mails before he was driven east across London to UBS to watch the soft-drinks investor roadshow.

In his fourth-floor office, he logged on to his computer: overnight rumours of the Mars /Wrigley tie-up were confirmed.

“I admit I was surprised,” said Stitzer. “The common perception was that both companies were family-orientated and unlikely to combine. Mars is very private and hadn’t done a substantial acquisition in many, many years.”

Although Wrigley is a quoted company, the Wrigley family controls more than two-thirds of the group’s high-voting B shares. Bill Wrigley Jr, executive chairman of the chewing-gum empire, controls 45% of the B shares either personally or through trusts.

When Stitzer and Cadbury’s finance director, Ken Hanna, arrived at UBS the following morning they found themselves surrounded by analysts who wanted to talk about the Wrigley deal. “Everyone seemed to be saying ‘just one quick question . . .’,” said Stitzer.

And that question, of course, was how Cadbury would react to the prospect of being toppled from its No 1 spot in worldwide confectionery.

Did the Wrigley deal make Cadbury more susceptible to the idea of being taken over? Or would it want to strengthen its position by buying someone else?

Stitzer’s answer was clear: neither. He said: “In the 12 national markets where we are No 1 or No 2, we will remain No 1 or No 2. Our competitive strength is in no way dented.

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