Unilever prepares 6 bln stg sale of food brands - newspapers

(Adds details of potential bidders from Sunday Telegraph)

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) is preparing a 6 billion pound ($7.44 billion) sale of some of its food brands, British newspapers reported on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) .

The Anglo-Dutch company is planning to sell Flora margarine and Stork butter brands, the Sunday Times said.

The Sunday Telegraph, which also cited a 6 billion pounds figure, cited sources as saying private equity firms Bain Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) , CVC (Taiwan OTC: 4744.TWO - news) and Clayton Dubilier and Rice have started working on offers for the "spreads" business, citing sources.

Unilever did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The maker of Knorr soups, Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream rebuffed a surprise $143 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz last month.

The company has launched a business review to consider returning cash to shareholders, making medium-sized acquisitions and more aggressive cost cuts, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.8068 pounds) (Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by James Dalgleish)