Kraft Foods Inc, which went public on Monday with a $16.7 billion offer for Cadbury PLC that the British candy maker rejected, is in talks to arrange about $8 billion of financing for the bid, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Kraft has been in talks with Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc on setting up debt to cover almost half the cost of the bid, the sources told the news agency.

One of the people was quoted as saying the financing would consist of a bridge loan that would be repaid with the proceeds of an investment-grade bond offering.

Spokesmen for Citigroup and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Kraft Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld told analysts on Tuesday the company has been and would continue to be disciplined in its attempt to acquire Cadbury.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by John Stonestreet)

Citigroup Cadbury