Carlyle, the private equity giant, is among the suitors vying to buy Reckitt Benckiser’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 ahead of a deadline on Thursday.

Market sources said that Yili, one of the biggest existing players in the country’s infant nutrition market, was also expected to bid, alongside several other financial and strategic bidders.

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

Under former chief executive Rakesh Kapoor, RB paid nearly $18bn for Mead Johnson in early 2017.

His successor, Laxman Narasimhan, told investors in February that he was initiating a strategic review of the Mead Johnson business in Greater China because of “continually evolving…markets for infant formula”.

A sale now looks overwhelmingly likely, according to people close to the company.

The Greater China infant formula business accounts for about 6% of RB’s group revenues, and sits in the company’s portfolio alongside brands such as Durex and Dettol, the detergent.

China is expected to report its first population decline this year in half a century, according to recent reports, with the country’s birth-rate also expected to be lower in 2021.

RB and Carlyle declined to comment.

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