By Tapan Panchal

British consumer-goods company Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC on Friday said it would buy baby-food maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. for $16.6 billion in a cash deal that will allow it to push further into the healthy-products arena.

The U.K. company, which had said earlier this month that it was in talks with the U.S. firm, said it would pay $90 a share. Including debt the deal is valued at $17.9 billion.

Mead Johnson, based in Glenview, Ill., makes a range of nutritional products including Enfamil infant formula and the Sustagen milk supplement for children.

Reckitt, based in Slough, England, owns consumer brands such as Lysol cleaning spray, Durex condoms, Strepsils lozenges and Scholl footcare products.

Separately, Reckitt reported 2016 earnings growth and said it expects macro conditions in 2017 to remain challenging and existing headwinds to persist in the first half of the new year.

This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.

Write to Tapan Panchal at Tapan.Panchal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2017 02:35 ET (07:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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