This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 5, 2018 - October 11, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Alois Hofbauer will be stepping down as chief executive officer (CEO) of Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd on Nov 30, 2018 as he will be leaving the Nestle Group to pursue other interests outside the company, which a news report said is leading Saudi dairy manufacturer Almarai Co Ltd.

Nestle Malaysia, in a statement yesterday to announce Hofbauer’s departure, said he will be replaced by Juan Aranols, who will take over the post on Dec 1.

Aranols is currently chief financial officer (CFO) for the Nestle Group’s Asia, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa zone (Zone AOA).

A Spanish national, Aranols joined the Nestle Group in 1990 as an auditor for Nestle Spain. In his 28 years with the company, he has held roles of increasing responsibilities across a number of different markets in Europe and Latin America.

In the last six years, he has worked at Nestle Global Headquarters, first as the global group controller, and then in his current role as CFO and a member of the senior management team for Zone AOA from 2015.

On his appointment Aranols said: “Nestle Malaysia is a company with a long history and great future prospects. I am both humbled and excited to be given the opportunity to take this organisation forward, building on the strong foundations laid by my predecessor and his team.”

According to Reuters, Hofbauer will be taking on the CEO’s role at Almarai, Middle East’s largest food manufacturer with an annual turnover close to US$4 billion (RM16.6 billion). Almarai, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of US$12 billion.

From the report, Hofbauer will be joining Almarai on Jan 1, 2019; his appointment as CEO will take effect from April 1, 2019.

Hofbauer, an Austrian national, has had a long and illustrious career with the Nestle Group, having served it since December 1990. He has been the CEO of Nestle Malaysia since Feb 22, 2013. Prior to this, he was managing director of Nestle Sri Lanka.

Under his leadership, Nestle Malaysia’s net profit grew by 27.9% from RM505 million in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2012 (FY12) to RM646 million in FY17 and revenue grew by 15.4% from RM4.56 billion to RM5.26 billion.

The group’s market capitalisation also more than doubled during his leadership to RM34.3 billion as of Oct 3, 2018 from RM14 billion in February 2013.

“I am proud that my team and I have established Nestle Malaysia as one of the top performing companies on Bursa Malaysia. We reignited growth and achieved solid results year after year. I am confident this success will continue, and I wish Juan Aranols all the best in his new role,” Hofbauer said in Nestle Malaysia’s statement.

Following Hofbauer’s resignation, Alessandro Monica ceased to be an alternate director to him.