Nestlé to buy Canadian nutrition-products company Atrium for $2.3bn

Switzerland’s Nestlé is spending $2.3bn to buy Atrium Innovations, a Canadian nutritional products company, from private equity group Permira, as it seeks to pep up its consumer healthcare activities.

The cash acquisition, announced on Tuesday, is the boldest move into consumer healthcare yet by Mark Schneider, who became Nestlé chief executive at the start of the year. Atrium is expected to report sales of almost $700m this year.

Greg Behar, chief executive of Nestlé Health Science, said the deal would extend the Swiss group’s product range “with value-added solutions such as probiotics, plant-based protein nutrition, meal replacements and an extensive multivitamin line, enabling consumers to address their health and wellness goals.”

Mr Schneider has identified consumer healthcare as a growth opportunity for Nestlé, which, like rivals, has seen organic sales growth slow significantly in recent years amid shifting consumer tastes and weak global economic growth.

Since his appointment, Mr Schneider has set Nestlé’s first ever profit-margin targets, and announced a SFr20bn share buyback programme. Last month, he broke the Swiss group’s infant nutrition business into regional units, to get closer to customers.