$11.9 billion for baby food? Nestle pays up for Pfizer Nutrition Swiss food and nutrition giant Nestle will shell out $11.9 billion to buy Pfizer's nutrition unit, which owns baby food brands such as SMA and Promil. The division is expected to reel in $2.4 billion in sales this year and gets 85% of its revenue from emerging markets, whose large and rapidly growing populations are a key target for Nestle. The Pfizer infant formula business is the fifth largest in the world, according to research group Euromonitor International, ranked behind Nestle, Mead-Johnson Nutrition Co., Groupe Danone and Abbot Laboritories. Nestle, which last year ranked as the most profitable corporation in the Fortune Global 500, owns infant product brands Gerber, Cerelac and Nan. Last week, the company said that its first quarter sales were up 7.2% to 21.4 billion Swiss francs, or $23.3 billion. Growth was up 3.1% in developed markets such as North America, where expansion slowed dued to weak consumer sentiment and higher pricing for products such as frozen foods. But in emerging markets, sales were up 13%. "As anticipated, 2012 is already confirming itself to be a challenging year," said Nestle Chief Executive Paul Bulcke in a statement. In many developed markets where consumer confidence is low, the trading environment is subdued whilst in most emerging markets, conditions remain dynamic and rich in growth opportunities. Overall first quarter Nestle Nutrition sales, including infant formula and cereals, grew 5.8% to reach 1.9 billion Swiss francs, or $2.1 billion. Even slower or declining birth rates in developed markets didn't dampen "dynamic growth in Asia, Africa and Latin America," the company said. Infant nutrition specifically is "a very attractive category," both "high-value and high-growth," said Nestle's head of nutrition Kurt Schmidt in a conference call with analysts. The nearly $30 billion market is growing at 10% as affluence and awareness increases abroad, helping to boost product premiumization and diversification. Bulcke, in the conference call, said the Pfizer nutrition unit "has a very strong brand portfolio. It has very good R&D capabilities, it has a very good geographical presence, and it actually helps to enhance our competitive advantages. The deal will need regulatory approval to go through. Maybe babies don't need the spoon-fed mush Alicia Silverstone's baby-feeding habits dangerous, experts say Baby's food: Teaching them young at the Natural Products Expo