Nestle SA, the world's biggest food company, agreed to buy Pfizer Inc's infant-nutrition unit for $11.9 billion, a business that gets most of its sales in fast-growing emerging markets.

The purchase will lead to annual cost benefits of $160 million and will boost earnings per share in the first full year, Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said Monday in a conference call. The purchase will help the Switzerland-based company, already the top seller of infant-nutrition products, regain traction in the Chinese baby-food market, where it has been losing market share since 2005.??

Agencies - China Daily