Heineken is close to buying the beer operations of Femsa, one of Mexico’s biggest brewers, for between US$7.5 billion and US$8 billion, people briefed on the matter said on Sunday. The move would further consolidate the beer industry into a few global players.
The deal by the Netherlands-based Heineken could be announced as soon as yesterday. It follows a months-long sales process by Femsa, formally known as Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB, whose brands include Dos Equis and Tecate.
Many analysts had expected SABMiller to prevail in the race for the Femsa unit, but it dropped out in recent weeks, the people said.
Femsa’s other holdings include a majority stake in Latin America’s largest Coke bottler and in OXXO, a large convenience store chain in Latin America.
Over the last decade, the beer industry has involved the rapid combining of various companies. The most notable deals included the 2002 sale of the Miller Brewing Co to South African Breweries for US$3.6 billion and the 2008 acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by InBev for US$52 billion.
Heineken itself struck a major deal in 2008 by buying Scottish & Newcastle, Britain’s largest brewer, in a joint deal with Carlsberg valued at US$15 billion.
A deal for Femsa would give Heineken a bigger foothold in Latin America, especially the highly profitable Mexican market. The two companies already share ties: Heineken distributes Dos Equis and other Femsa products in the US.
For Femsa, merging with Heineken could help bolster its competitive position, especially as it continues to battle its larger Mexican rival, Grupo Modelo.
About a quarter of Femsa’s 168 billion pesos (US$12 billion) in revenue in 2008 came from its beer operations. The company posted about US$1.6 billion in operating profit that year.
A spokeswoman for Heineken declined to comment. A representative for Femsa could not be reached for comment.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS