Pietro Ferrero, ceo of the the Italy-based Ferrero group, died Monday of a suspected heart attack, reports Bloomberg News. He was 47.

 

He was bicycling along the coastal road near Cape Town in South Africa during a break from a company meeting in South Africa when the apparent heart attack occurred. A passerby saw him fall off his bicycle and he was pronounced dead shortly after an ambulance arrived, Western Cape Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk told Bloomberg.

 

Ferrero was joint chief executive with his brother Giovanni of the Ferrero Group, makers of Nutella, Tic Tacks and the namesake Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

 

The company’s website has a tribute to Ferrero on its home page, which the words “Forever with us” across his picture in both English and Italian.

 

The death comes as his company is considering joining a takeover battle for Parmalat S.p.A., Italy’s biggest dairy company, Bloomberg reports.

 

For more information visit http://www.ferrero.com/.