Unilever and GSK did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The news came a day after GSK said it had rejected a 50-billion-pound ($68.37 billion) offer from Unilever for the consumer goods arm. GSK said it had received three bids from Unilever, the latest on Dec. 20.

Unilever could eventually sell some non-core assets from the GSK portfolio to buyers including private equity firms, which could help fund an acquisition, the Bloomberg report added.

($1 = 0.7314 pounds)

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)