Mars Inc. chairman Stephen Badger has said that the firm is "100% committed to staying private", according to a recent interview with Business Insider.
The confectionery maker is one of the largest family-run companies in the world, and has been in operation for more than 100 years.
More Flexibility
Staying private will give the company more flexibility, Badger told the publication.
"It really does allow us to pursue our own path, our own future, and to really invest in the long term," he said.
"We know who our shareholders are. We could fit them all in quite a small room if we had to. And so the ability of management to interface with the shareholders is very direct. It's very tangible. It's very immediate. And, I think it does give us the capacity to make decisions quickly."
For example, Mars' $23 billion purchase of chewing gum company Wrigley in 2008 happened after a short conversation between shareholders.
Stock Market "Impatience"
Badger said that another advantage of staying private is that the company doesn't have to contend with the "impatience" of the quarterly stock market, or the heavy focus placed on earnings that will come as a result of going public.
"At the end of the day, it's a different environment to be in a family business, in our family business...we do take a long-term view of what we're trying to do and we can make commitments that are not fundamentally, solely based upon the financial reward and return," he said.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
