Keurig Dr Pepper names Kimberly Clark executive as new CEO of coffee unit

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Keurig Dr Pepper on Thursday named Kimberly-Clark executive Russ Torres as CEO of the coffee business, which will operate as a publicly traded company early next year. 

The move comes months after former head Rafael Oliveira left the firm to join Heineken.   

Here are more details: 

• Torres will join on November 3 and will initially serve as CEO of Keurig's coffee unit called Global Coffee Co, during which time he will lead the integration of Keurig's and JDE Peet's coffee operations.

• Keurig earlier this year closed its roughly $18 billion acquisition of JDE Peet's, creating a global coffee giant.

• Torres, currently Kimberly-Clark's president and COO, brings three decades of consumer goods experience leading global brands and large-scale business transformations.

• He will report to Keurig's chief executive Tim Cofer, who will lead the beverage unit, following separation of the coffee and beverage operations into two U.S.-listed public companies.

• In April, Keurig had named Oliveira as the planned CEO of the future coffee company, currently called Global Coffee Co.

• In August, the company reaffirmed its annual forecasts after beating analysts' estimates for second-quarter sales and profit.

(Reporting by Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)