Pietro Ferrero, CEO of the Ferrero group, has died at 47 of a suspected heart attack in South Africa while cycling.

“Italy has lost a businessman who embodied the best qualities of our industrial history – the continual search for excellence, creativity, the determination to compete even in difficult moments to defend a brand and make it a symbol,” comments Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini.

Ferrero was founded in 1946 when Pietro’s grandparents transformed a small coffee bar and pastry shop into a sweets factory and developed Nutella. Chairman Michele Ferrero, Pietro’s father, increased the family’s fortune to $18 billion. The company  has more than 21,600 employees and 18 plants worldwide. Brands include Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tacs, Kinder, Mon Cheri and Rafaello, among others.

In the financial year ending August 2010, Ferrero had sales of €6.6 billion euros, a 4.3% rise over the previous year, and pretax profit of €893 million. Ferrero is survived by his wife and three children.