Nestle has confirmed the appointment of Luis Cantarall as head of its nutrition business.
Nestle, which is getting-to-grips with the integration of its baby food business purchased from Pfizer in April, said that Cantarall will lead the division in addition to his current position as head of Nestle Health Science. Cantarall played an instrumental role in setting up Nestle's nutrition business a decade ago and will replace Kurt Schmidt, who will leave the firm on 1 December for personal reasons.
Nestle bought Pfizer's baby food business for $11.85 billion in an attempt to secure growth in key emerging markets such as China. The division is expected to deliver sales of $2.4 billion this year and will be fully integrated in the first half of 2013.
Nestle's nutrition unit also makes cereals, sports and weight management products. The business, which accounts for 9% of Nestle's revenue, generated sales of $6.2 billion during the first nine months of the year - a 6.6% organic increase.
