Nestle Names Cantarell Head of Nutrition Unit

The world's biggest food group Nestle named Luis Cantarell as head of its nutrition division, which is grappling with the integration of the baby food business it bought from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer.

The Vevey-based maker of Nescafe coffee, KitKat chocolate bars and Maggi soup on Tuesday said Cantarell, who was instrumental in setting up the nutrition division a decade ago, would run the unit in addition to his role leading Nestle Health Science.

"The leadership change is a clear signal that Nestle wants to give the nutrition area more drive ahead of the integration efforts that are imminent due to the Pfizer acquisition," Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy wrote in a note.

Nestle bought Pfizer's baby food business for $11.85 billion in April as it seeks dominance of fast-growing emerging markets. It forecasts sales for the business at $2.4 billion this year. The deal is due to be completed in the first half of 2013.

Cantarell, who led Nestle's nutrition division between 2001 and 2005, replaces Kurt Schmidt who the company said is leaving for personal reasons on Dec. 1.

The nutrition business, which makes infant formula and cereals as well as sports and diet foods, saw sales grow an organic 6.6% in the first nine months of the year to 5.8 billion Swiss francs ($6.2 billion), almost 9% of group sales.

The Pfizer unit which Nestle has acquired is a high-growth business built on its top SMA Gold brand, which ranks number five globally in the infant milk formula market - the world's fastest-growing packaged food category - after Nestle, Mead Johnson, Danone and Abbott Laboratories, with a quarter of sales in China.

Bertschy also noted the challenges Nestle's nutrition unit was having with ongoing weakness of its Jenny Craig weight management foods brand, which it bought in 2006.

Nestle set up its health science company under Cantarell last year, as well as a research institute to develop medical foods, as food manufacturers compete with pharmaceutical companies for a foothold in the growing sector.

Nestle said its decision to bring the nutrition and health science businesses under the same leadership would help strengthen its presence in global nutrition.