The Hershey Trust, the charitable trust that is the major shareholder of Hershey Co, has sought the approval of the Pennsylvania attorney general for a potential $17 billion bid for Cadbury Plc, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican who is running for governor, has yet to tell the Hershey Trust what he thinks, the newspaper said in its electronic edition on Wednesday.

Hershey is weighing a solo $17 billion bid to buy Cadbury, which is the target of a hostile bid by Kraft Foods Inc as well as considering a joint bid with Italy's Ferrero, sources previously told Reuters.

In recent weeks, at least one member of the trust's board of directors reached out to Corbett to see if he would block any attempt by Hershey to purchase Cadbury, the Journal reported.

People in Corbett's office said they understood why Hershey might pursue a bid, but couldn't make a determination on whether to support or block the bid until they had more specific information, the newspaper said.

We haven't seen anything regarding any potential transaction, a spokesman for the attorney general's office told Reuters on Tuesday. The spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jessica Hall; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Pennsylvania Cadbury