A former chief executive of the Coles retail conglomerate, Dennis Eck, has lifted his stake in consumer health group Cellmid, as part of a $9 million share placement as it prepares to expand into the United States and China with a range of anti-hair-loss products, and with anti-wrinkle creams in Australasia.

Mr Eck – who from 1997 to 2001 ran the Coles supermarkets, Target, Kmart and Myer businesses when they were all under the Coles Myer umbrella – became a director of Cellmid in March and has pumped in about an extra $1 million as part of a placement to investors at 38¢ a share.