By Martinne Geller and Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Reckitt Benckiser Group will be a major player in a coming shakeout of the globalconsumer health industry and has the capability to do sizeabledeals, according to its chief executive.
Speaking at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit onWednesday, CEO Rakesh Kapoor predicted that the industry, whichcovers vitamins to over-the-counter medicines to condoms, willsee a wave of deals.
"Consumer health is one of the most fragmented markets inthe world, and that is a real issue-stroke-opportunity," Kapoorsaid. "This fragmentation will result in consolidation - theonly question is who, when and how."
Kapoor, who has been in the top job for just over two years,added that: "My personal opinion is that RB will be in the campof aggregators or consolidators."
British-based RB is still paying down debt from last year's$1.4 billion purchase of vitamin and supplements maker SchiffNutrition, but could still do more.
"We have the capability to do interesting size M&A," hesaid.
Large pharmaceutical companies currently dominate theconsumer health market. But they are increasingly pruning theirportfolios to unlock shareholder value.
Pfizer has led they way in such divestments butothers are following suit, with Bristol-Myers Squibb selling RB the rights to market some of its non-prescriptionremedies in Latin America earlier this year.
GlaxoSmithKline this week agreed to sell itsLucozade and Ribena soft drinks to Suntory Beverage & Food , while some other drugmakers with consumer healthcarebrands, including Novartis, are reviewing theirportfolios.
RB still gets most of its sales and profits from cleanersand disinfectants like Lysol, Finish and Cillit Bang, but astring of deals in the health sector over the last decade meansconsumer healthcare now accounts for about a quarter of revenue.
Over-the-counter health products tap into longer-termconsumer and demographic trends such as aging populations,ballooning healthcare costs, and more interest in wellness.
In the past decade, the company was largely an acquirer ofbusinesses, with some of the biggest deals being BootsHealthcare International in 2006, Adams Pharmaceutical in 2008,and Durex condom maker SSL in 2010. But in the future, thereshould be divestitures as well, Kapoor said.
"Our next 10 years, in my opinion, will be a combination ofthe two," he said.
RB has two non-core businesses selling mustard and sauces,and a prescription drug business selling a treatment for heroineand other opioids.
(For other news from the Reuters Global Consumer and RetailSummit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Retail13)
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For more summit stories click (Editing by Jane Merriman)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
