Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, agreed to buy Pfizer’s infant-nutrition unit for $11.9 billion, edging out Danone in a contest for a business that gets most of its sales in fast-growing emerging markets.

The purchase will lead to annual cost benefits of $160 million and will boost earnings per share in the first full year, Nestle Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke said today on a conference call. The Pfizer unit will increase Nestle’s sales of infant formula to $7 billion a year from $5 billion.

Nestle’s offer beat a bid of about $11 billion from Danone, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The purchase will help the Vevey, Switzerland-based company, already the top seller of infant-nutrition products, regain traction in the Chinese baby-food market, where it has been losing market share since 2005. The Pfizer unit gets about 85 percent of sales from emerging markets such as Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

沪江英语快讯：惠氏奶粉有了新东家！雀巢CEO在电话会议上宣布已经斥资119亿美元收购辉瑞制药旗下的惠氏婴儿奶粉。雀巢的此次收购具有战略意义。据预测，通过收购惠氏奶粉，今年其婴儿奶粉这一块的收入就有可能增加20亿美元，而且将扩大其在新兴市场的占有率。