Global Consolidation of Breweries Continues

Heineken is buying Mexico's Femsa for $5.5 billion in stock. I believe Femsa is the second largest brewing conglomerate in Mexico, after Groupo Modelo. This means that Heineken now also controls Dos Equis, Sol and Tecate in the U.S. as well as Xingu in the U.S. and Brazil. This comes on the heels of Heineken's purchase of Newcastle last year, and is further representative of continued consolidation and struggle between the three largest conglomerates, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, Heineken and SAB-Miller for market share in the developing markets of Central and South America.

"In the context of the reconfiguration of the global brewing landscape, scale and geographic diversification are more important than ever," said Femsa CEO Jose Antonio Fernandez Carbajal.