Cadbury Schweppes, the London-based candy and soda giant, says it is giving the auction of its North American beverage business, which includes Dr Pepper and 7-Up, more time.

Final bids had been expected next week.

While "interest in the business remains strong," the company said, "the leveraged debt markets have experienced extreme volatility in recent days."

The beverage business has been expected to sell for more than $15 billion.

But the likely bidders are private equity firms, and wary investors have been demanding higher yields and less lenient terms before they buy leveraged loans or junk bonds intended to finance deals. This week alone, debt financing for the buyouts of Chrysler and Alliance Boots in Britain ran into major problems. And worries over the debt markets helped fuel a slide in stocks on Thursday.

"It's a barometer -- this is telling us that getting deals done is difficult,'' Martin Deboo, an analyst at Investec Securities in London told Bloomberg News. "We're in very uncertain times.''

Following calls by activist investor Nelson Peltz, Cadbury said in March that it would split off its beverage business to focus on its candy operations.