The Carlyle Group Inc. (NasdaqGS:CG) is among the suitors vying to Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LSE:RKT)'s infant nutrition arm in China as the world's most populous nation grapples with a declining birth-rate. Sky News has learnt that the buyout firm is among a number of parties who were preparing to table offers for the Greater China unit of Mead Johnson Nutrition Company ahead of a deadline on May 6, 2021. Market sources said that Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600887) was also expected to bid, alongside several other financial and strategic bidders.

The unit's sale is expected to fetch up to $2 billion (£1.4 billion), a price that would reflect RB's struggles with the business for much of the period in which it has owned it. RB and Carlyle declined to comment.