UK's Reckitt Benckiser weighing foods business sale-paper

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser is considering the sale of its foods business, which includes French's, its top-selling U.S. mustard brand, to help fund its $16.6 billion takeover of baby food maker Mead Johnson, British newspaper The Sunday Times said.

The maker of Durex condoms and Nurofen painkillers has told banks it plans to sell the foods division, as it no longer considers it core to a business increasingly focused on consumer health, the report said, citing senior sources.

The foods arm, which had sales last year of 411 million pounds, could fetch more than 2.4 billion pounds ($3 billion), according to the report.

Reckitt, which on Friday said it had cut the pay of Chief Executive Rakesh Kapoor after a safety scandal in South Korea, agreed to buy Mead Johnson in February.

A spokeswoman for Reckitt declined to comment on the report. ($1=0.7969 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Greg Mahlich)