Reckitt Benckiser Starts Review of Food Unit -- Update

By Denise Roland and Ian Walker 

LONDON-- Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, the owner of French's mustard and several cleaning and health brands, said Monday it is starting a strategic review of its food business.

The maker of Lysol antiseptics and Air Wick air fresheners said it would explore all options for the food business, which it called no longer core to the company. Reckitt provided no further information and said it would update the market when appropriate.

The Slough, England-based company, which also makes Durex condoms and Nurofen painkillers, was responding to recent press comments. Reports over the weekend suggested the company was planning to sell the unit, and could raise up to $3 billion to help fund its $16.6 billion takeover of baby-food maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co.

Kraft Heinz Co. was cited in those reports as one of the potential bidders following its failed $143 billion bid for rival Unilever PLC earlier this year.

The food unit, whose brands also include Frank's RedHot sauces, generated GBP411 million ($516 million) of the company's overall revenue of GBP9.89 billion in 2016.

It is already managed separately from the rest of Reckitt Benckiser's business, which largely focuses on cleaning products, over-the-counter remedies and brands such as K-Y lubricants and Veet hair-removal cream.

On Friday, Reckitt disclosed in its annual report that the board cut Chief Executive Rakesh Kapoor's pay last year after a scandal at the company's South Korean business, in which scores of people were killed and hundreds left with permanent lung damage by a humidifier disinfectant between 2001 and 2011.

Mr. Kapoor received total pay of GBP14.6 million last year, compared with GBP25.5 million in 2015, a figure that made him one of the highest-paid bosses in the FTSE 100 that year. His 2015 pay package stoked a rebellion among some shareholders, with 18% of investors voting against last year's pay policy.

Reckitt's remuneration committee said Mr. Kapoor would have been entitled to a further GBP14 million in bonus and share rewards had the committee not decided to "exercise discretion" to curb his pay.

Write to Denise Roland at [e-mail] and Ian Walker at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 03, 2017 05:01 ET (09:01 GMT)

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