"Normally we do not comment on market rumors, but in this case we clearly deny that Lindt & Spruengli will be taken over by Nestle," Nina Keller, a spokeswoman for the Kilchberg-based company, said by e-mail today. She declined to comment on whether Lindt and Nestle have had any contact. Robin Tickle, a spokesman for Nestle, declined to comment.

Higher cocoa prices may pressure chocolate companies to make acquisitions, leading to a possible Nestle takeover of Lindt after Kraft Foods Inc.'s bid for Dairy Milk maker Cadbury Plc, Kepler Capital Markets analyst Jon Cox wrote in a note last month. Lindt has a market value of 5.8 billion francs ($5.6 billion) and according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Pablo Zuanic sells about a third of the world's premium chocolate.

Lindt has a defense against takeovers that allows it to limit the voting rights of shareholders to 6 percent maximum. That limitation doesn't apply to its largest shareholder, the company’s pension fund, which has a stake of about 22 percent. To change the limit on voting rights, approval is required from three-quarters of the votes at a shareholder meeting, according to the company's annual report.