Rothschild star and Buffett banker circle Cadbury

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That experience could be vital if Ferrero plans to take Cadbury's gum and candy division, a unit worth around USD 7.4 billion, according to media reports.

He was also an architect of Cadbury's purchase of Orangina for 700 million euros in 2001, which helped scale up the company's French and German soft drinks business after Coca-Cola Company was blocked from buying the assets on competition grounds a year earlier.

Sachak flipped sides five years later, advising private equity firms Blackstone Group and Lion Capital on the acquisition of Orangina for around UUSD 2.6 billion.

The pair sold the business a few months ago for USD3.85 billion, again under advice from Sachak and his team.

TEAM HERSHEY

As Hershey contemplates the most transformative move in its 100-year history, it has assembled an elite group of bankers to provide advice.

Hershey, which tried and failed to combine with Cadbury in 2007, has held "very preliminary" talks with Ferrero about a possible joint bid, a person familiar with the matter previously told Reuters.

In addition to Grant and Trott, its advisers include BDT Capital Partners and Watch Hill Partners.

A native of Union, Missouri, Trott is best known for his high-profile banking relationship with Buffett, whose Berskhire Hathaway also happens to be the largest shareholder in Kraft.

He has helped the Sage of Omaha on deals ranging from the $4.5 billion acquisition of a majority stake of Marmon Holdings from Chicago's Pritzker family, to a crucial USD 5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs to an investment alongside Mars in the acquisition of Wm Wrigley jr Co last year.

Trott worked at Goldman for 27 years before starting his own firm last year, BDT Capital Partners. He was backed by Buffett, who called him "the rare investment banker who puts himself in his client's shoes" in his 2008 letter to Berkshire Hathaway investors.

JP Morgan veteran Grant has defended Heinz in its battles against activist investor Nelson Peltz and worked with food services giant Aramark twice, first taking them public in 2001 and then taking them private again five years later.

Grant worked with Wendy's in its sale to Arby's owner Triarc in 2008.

A graduate of Oxford University, Grant decorated his office in the late 1980s with a black tombstone that read: "Sometimes the best advice is not to do the deal".