Kraft Foods – the US food group said it would sell its North American pizza unit to Swiss food giant Nestle and use the $3.7 billion proceeds to fund a partial cash alternative for Cadbury shareholders. It will raise the cash portion of the deal by 60 pence a share, but keep the overall size of the offer unchanged.

Cadbury would also help expand Kraft’s business into faster-growing markets like India. Cadbury has been given three extra days to January 15 to come up with a 2009 trading update that could become a key plank in its defence.After that, the company is not allowed to give any new information, though it can still reiterate messages.