Within days of Hershey Co.’s decision to abandon its plan to bid for Cadbury Plc, Ferrero, the Italian manufacturer of Kinder Surprise and TicTac mints, Monday announced that it too is withdrawing from the Cadbury takeover bid.

As per the reports making rounds during the last few days, Ferrero decided not to dump its Cadbury bid plans because it would have led the company to not only excessive debt, but would have also necessitated layoffs. The Italian chocolate maker, rather than going in for acquisition, would focus more on the introduction of “fresh” products using new technology, to increase its presence in Asia and South America.

The recent announcement from Ferrero, which on November 18 had said that it was evaluating its options to bid for Cadbury, will pave the way for the Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft Foods to go through with its £11.9 billion ($19.2 billion) takeover of the UK-based Cadbury.

The board of the Dairy Milk chocolate maker had agreed to Kraft’s revised £11.9 billion, or 850 pence per share, cash-and-share bid on January 19; almost ending the ongoing battle for the company’s acquisition.

Kraft now would likely get the 50 percent approval from Cadbury’s shareholders by the February 2 deadline. As per the terms of the revised offer, Cadbury’s shareholders will receive the cash offer only, which would amount to 799 pence per share.