Activist investor William Ackman has built a $5.5 billion stake in Mondelez International, Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies and Toblerone, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The move is seen as a push for Mondelez to either grow faster and cut costs or put the company up for sale.
Reuters adds that the slowdown of growth in the global packaged food industry has sparked a wave of consolidation as companies try to cut costs, boost efficiency and gain scale.
Mondelez has shut down several factories and set up a share buyback of up to $13.7 billion to boost its performance.
Analysts, though, feel that Ackman wants more, according to Reuters.
"I think it's not a pure investment looking for organic growth. It is a move out of a larger play I would guess," an industry adviser told Reuters.
The stakes were revealed in a press release issued by Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., Ackman's hedge fund.
Pershing Square has more than 120 million shares, or a 7.5 percent stake in Mondelez.
The stake in Mondelez also includes forward purchase contracts and call options, according to the press release.
Selling Mondelez though, won't be an easy task.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has a market value of $75 billion, which means only a few companies can afford it.
A source familiar with the matter has identified one potential buyer to The Wall Street Journal.
Kraft Heinz Co., which was recently formed after the acquisition of Kraft Foods Group, Inc. by the H. J. Heinz Company, is a potential buyer with a market cap of $97.6 billion.
A sale to Kraft Heinz would recombine Mondelez and its former Kraft unit in a remarkable circle of corporate rearrangement, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Shares of Mondelez are up 7 percent at $49.49 in premarket trading on Thursday, August 6, 2015, according to Reuters.
