Kapoor: New role

London, April 14 (Reuters): British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser shocked investors by saying its 54-year old star CEO Bart Becht is to retire and will be replaced by Reckitt veteran Rakesh Kapoor, sending its shares sharply lower.

The move comes only months after finance director Colin Day stepped down following a decade when Becht and Day transformed a sleepy perennial underperformer into one of the FTSE 100 index’s top stocks and earned Becht a mega payout in 2009.

“It was one of the most highly regarded management teams, I would have said in the FTSE. The fact that they’ve both gone now I think is basically going to cause some people to reassess,” said analyst Martin Dolan at brokers Espirito Santo.

Reckitt shares were down 7.1 per cent at £31.28 by 0946 GMT on Thursday, the biggest faller in a slightly lower FTSE 100, after the maker of Cillit Bank cleaners and Nurofen painkillers had done little wrong over the last decade.

Marketing chief Kapoor, who has been with Reckitt for 25 years, will become CEO on September 1, with Becht staying on as part-time adviser and on the company’s board until September 2012 to ensure a smooth transition.

Reckitt said Becht would focus on charitable work and look at non-executive directorships after over 11 years at the head of the fast-growing group, but he was not looking at any future CEO positions.

“Bart thinks it is a good time to step down. His team is the best he’s ever had, he’s done a major acquisition in SSL and has weathered the storm of recession, so there are no major issues around,” a Reckitt spokesperson said.

His replacement, the 52-year old Kapoor, started work with Reckitt in India and then ran its health care business in northern Europe before becoming its chief marketing guru for the last five years in charge of driving growth at its 19 top brands such as Finish dishwasher products and Lysol disinfectants.

He was one of the architects behind Reckitt’s expansion into health and personal care with the acquisition of Boots’ Strepsil and Clearasil businesses in 2006, and then the SSL Durex condoms and Scholl footcare firm and Indian ointments and cold remedy group Paras Pharmaceuticals.