By Matthew Quinn
In a move that could signal Unilever is looking to step up its acquisition game, the consumer goods giant hired Jean-Marc Huet away from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Huet, 40, oversaw seven acquisitions at the pharmaceutical company since taking over the top finance job there in March 2008, including its $2.4 billion deal for Medarex in August of this year. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers, Huet served as chief financial officer at Royal Numico in Amsterdam, where he was credited with initiating and developing the company’s acquisition strategy and its resulting acquisition by Groupe Danone.
Unilever announced in October that James Lawrence, 57, was stepping down as CFO and from the boards of Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. at the end of the year. He joined the company in September 2007.
Huet, who will start at Bristol-Myers on January 1, “joins Unilever at an exciting time,” Paul Polman, Unilever’s chief executive, said in a press release. “His background and expertise will be important in helping us realise the growth ambitions we have for the future.”
Polman, a former CFO at Nestle and long-time Procter & Gamble exec, took the helm at Bristol-Myers in September 2008.
The company made its first deal under Polman in September 2009 when it purchased the personal care division of Sara Lee for $1.9 billion. In announcing the deal, Bristol-Myers said it was looking for opportunities to continue its “phase of acquisitions”.
“Unilever was already speeding up the acquisition pace and Huet will fit in with that nicely,” said Petercam analyst Fernand de Boer told Bloomberg. “If you look at cashflow and the financial position of Bristol-Myers, this is somebody who knows the ropes. He did an impressive job at Numico and a good job at Bristol-Myers.”
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