Page 1 of 1

Nicholas Grove is a Morningstar journalist.

Long-serving CSL Limited (CSL) chief executive Brian McNamee will hand over leadership of the vaccine and blood products maker after more than 23 years at the helm, it was announced on Friday.

McNamee will leave CSL in July 2013 and will be succeeded by Paul Perreault, who is currently president of the CSL Behring business.

Perreault joined the company in 2004 as part of the Aventis Behring acquisition and is currently responsible for the CSL Group's international manufacturing and commercial operations across 26 countries, which comprise over 85 per cent of CSL Group revenues.

In a statement, CSL chairman John Shine said Perreault will bring strong leadership qualities and more than 30 years experience in the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industry to the CEO role.

Shine said long-term succession planning for McNamee had been underway for some time.

"This plan is in line with our market announcement in December 2009 that Brian would continue as CEO for 'three to four years,'" he said.

"Paul was selected after consideration of a strong field of well-qualified candidates. The process has reconfirmed the board's confidence in the quality and depth of CSL's global management.

"Paul brings tremendous leadership capability to the role, together with deep experience in the day-to-day management of CSL's global operations."

CSL is scheduled to release its fiscal 2012 results on 22 August, with both Morningstar and consensus estimates pegging the company's net profit around the $1.1-billion mark, up from around $940 million previously.