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Nestle: Pfizer baby food deal cleared by Chinese authorities
Paul Bulcke, CEO of Nestle SA speaks during a news conference before the inauguration of Nestle's new production unit for the production of latest-generation probiotic infant formulas in Konolfingen near Bern in this file photo taken September 1, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Pascal Lauener
LAUSANNE |
LAUSANNE (Reuters) - Nestle SA's (NESN.VX) $11.9 billion purchase of Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) baby food business has won approval in China, taking the Swiss group a step towards sealing a deal which still rests on months of bargaining with antitrust authorities.
Asked whether Chinese regulators had cleared the transaction, Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said: "It was just this week."
Nestle is acquiring Pfizer's infant nutrition unit to combine it with its existing infant formula business.
Bulcke, speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, said the Pfizer integration was on track and could be completed in about a month.
Nestle declined comment on whether the deal had been approved in other countries or regions.
Analysts have said the company may have to sell up to 30 percent of the Pfizer businesses, including those in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, as part of an approval process which may take up to 12 months.
"We are pleased that Nestle's acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition has been approved in China," the company said. "The acquisition is still subject to other closing conditions. We therefore do not make any further comment at this stage.
Bulcke also signaled Nestle could look at further deals.
"You have to look at how many opportunities are out there ... We're happy with what may come and we'll embrace that. We're always open to opportunities," he said.
Asked if Nestle could do more deals of the size of the Pfizer unit purchase, Bulcke said: "That's a big acquisition ... we don't do that every day."
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by David Holmes)
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On the other hand Nestle has a history of advertisement fraud in China. It’s famous for falsely advertising that baby formula was superior to breast milk for baby’s health in the past. It was a big scandal.
Just because the Swiss used to have an impeccable reputation like Roger Federer’s tennis was flawless, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have to prove its quality and substantiate everything they say in marketing. With the financial scandals of Swiss banks, and the constant and steady stream of reports about tax evaders using Swiss Banks to commit tax fraud from Greece to Germany to the United States, the Swiss reputation have greatly tarnished.
You know that the Swiss banks know that their reputation is in tatters for some sector of the world, when they start advertising on the News Hour on PBS.
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