Nestle's Brabeck says will step down as chairman in 2017

Declines to name who will succeed him

Nestle's chairman Peter Brabeck expects to retire in 2017, in line with internal company rules preventing board members from standing for re-election once they reach the age of 72, he said in an newspaper interview published on Saturday.

"Those are the rules of the game and I'm going to respect them," Brabeck, who turns 70 in November, told Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

"I will retire from Nestle in 2017 as planned", he said.

Nestle's board regulations require the terms of office for all board members to expire no later than at the annual shareholder meeting following the member's 72nd birthday.

Brabeck declined to comment on who would succeed him in the top job at the world's biggest food company.

"Thanks to our internal organisation, anybody can be replaced within 24 hours if something happens," he said, adding there was no point in speculating at this stage on who would succeed him.