U.S. food company Kraft Foods might sell assets like Maxwell House and Oscar Mayer to finance its planned acquisition of British confectioner Cadbury , the New York Post reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The dip in Kraft's share price since it made the unsolicited offer may cause it to consider steps to beef up the cash part of its offer and rely less on stock to pay for the deal, the paper said.

Kraft was not available for comment.

Kraft wants to buy the British chocolate giant as it targets growth after revamping operations in recent years, although the candy maker immediately rejected an initial offer worth 10.2 billion pounds ($17.0 billion) at the time.

The paper said Kraft has reached out to an expanded circle of banks and as part of that process, it may pledge assets in order to secure additional loans.

(Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Dan Lalor)

($1 = 0.6006 pound)

Cadbury