Kraft under probe over Cadbury deal in UK: report

Kraft Food products sit on a shelf at a Walgreens store in Willowbrook, Illinois January 19, 2010.

(Reuters) - Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N) is being investigated by U.K. regulators on whether the company misled employees and investors in its battle to take over British firm Cadbury, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

In January, Kraft agreed to buy Cadbury in a deal worth about $18.4 billion.

The Journal said The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers is looking into comments Kraft executives made during the takeover battle about Cadbury's Somerdale candy factory near Bristol,.

Kraft officials had said the factory would be kept open in the initial takeover letter. But Cadbury had said it would close the plant and move the jobs to Poland, WSJ said.

In February, Kraft said it decided to accept that the Somerdale plant would be shut by 2011.

The Journal said Kraft executives will be called later in March to give evidence in front of a parliamentary committee that is holding hearings on the takeover.

Kraft was not immediately available for a comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

(Reporting by Amulya Nagaraj in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)