Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business asFEMSA, is a Mexican multinationalbeverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. It integrates the largest independent Coca-Cola bottling group in the world and the largest convenience store chain in Mexico. It is also the second largest shareholder of Heineken N.V.. FEMSA reported revenues of US$19.2 billion for 2014, making it the fifth largest company of Mexico. It has operations in Latin America and the Philippines, mainly through bottling plants. It is well known in Mexico for its convenience store chain Oxxo, its previously owned Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, and for being the owner of the C.F. Monterrey, a Mexican First-Division football team. FEMSA has been listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange since 1978 and on the NYSE through ADRs since 1998. It is a constituent of the IPC, the main benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange, and of the S&P Latin America 40, which includes leading, blue chip companies from Latin America.
FEMSA Divisions
FEMSA is divided into four business units:
Coca-Cola FEMSA
FEMSA owns 47.9% of the world's second largest bottler of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V., which operates in ten countries covering the metropolitan area of Mexico City, southeast Mexico, Central America, South America and the Philippines. Coca-Cola FEMSA is the anchor bottler of Coca-Cola and its related soft drink products in much of Latin America. The company is an important part of the Coca-Cola System. Coca-Cola FEMSA distributes about 10% of the worldwide production of Coca-Cola products. This makes it, after Coca-Cola Enterprises the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world. The company is owned 47.9% by FEMSA, 28.1% by The Coca-Cola Company and the remaining interest trades on the New York Stock Exchange and the Mexico City Stock Exchange. The company is headquartered in Monterrey. The company is the bottler of Coca-Cola in half of Mexico the Buenos Aires region of Argentina, São Paulo and other areas of Brazil, greater Guatemala City, Guatemala, most of Colombia, and all of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and the Philippines. In 2015, the company distributed 3.4 billion unit cases of soft drinks. A unit case is 24 8-oz. servings. The company also distributes beer and bottled water in some of its territories. On December 19, 2006, Coca-Cola FEMSA announced its attempt to buy out Mexican juice producer Jugos del Valle. It was acquired in 2007. On 29 June 2011, was announced that FEMSA will merge to the bottling division of Grupo Tampico, agreeing to pay 9.3 billion pesos in stock for the Coke bottling operations of Grupo Tampico. In September 2011, Coca-Cola FEMSA acquired Grupo Cimsa, a Coke bottler in Morelos, Mexico, Guerrero and Michoacan.
FEMSA Comercio
FEMSA Comercio operates OXXO, the leading convenience store chain in Mexico and a growing portfolio of other small-format retail chains in Latin America, as well as a network of retail service stations for fuel, lubricants and car care products in Mexico.
Investment in the Beer Industry
On January 11, 2010, the Dutchbrewing companyHeineken International purchased FEMSA Cerveza, the beer operations of FEMSA, in a stock swap that left FEMSA a 20% owner in the Heineken overall. FEMSA Cerveza previously owned Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, the second largest brewer in Mexico, just after Grupo Modelo. Since January 2006, FEMSA also owned 68% of FEMSA Cerveja Brasil, a South Americanbrewery founded in 1982 in Brazil as "Cervejarias Kaiser." By 2005 the brewery had 8.7% of the market share in Brazil with annual production of 2,500 million litres. The brand was bought by Molson in 2002. Following the sale to FEMSA, Molson retained 15% of the company along with a seat on the board.
FEMSA Negocios Estratégicos
FEMSA Negocios Estratégicos provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients. It is subsequently divided into:
FEMSA Logística
FEMSA Logística is in charge of the primary distribution of both Coca-Cola FEMSA and Heineken, as well as product delivery from warehouse to sales location for FEMSA Comercio. It is also in charge of repairing and maintaining all of FEMSA's motorized vehicles. FEMSA Logística functions through operational bases, relief bases and cross-docks, and warehouses that are located throughout the country, and currently expanding into South America. It also provides logistics services to third parties.
Imbera
Imbera, formerly known as Vendo de México, S.A. de C.V., is the #1 global commercial refrigeration manufacturer in the world. With facilities in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, Imbera exports to 45 different countries and maintains alliances in Argentina, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Philippines. In addition, Imbera has sales offices in 8 countries and provides equipment maintenance in 9, including the US and Canada.
Plásticos Técnicos Mexicanos (PTM)
PTM provides solutions and develops "plastic transformation projects" tailored to FEMSA Enterprises and third-party clients in terms of materials handling, automobiles, and food/beverages. Their capacity includes the different plastic manufacturing processes: blowing, injecting, heat forming, and extrusion.
On December 20, 2007, Cascade Investments LLC, whose main partner is Bill Gates, announced it would invest $390 million in FEMSA. The Reuters news agency stated that after this investment, "Gates owns a 1.2 percent stake in Femsa’s Series B shares, a 5 percent stake in Series D-B shares, and a 5 percent stake in Series D-L shares." This investment caused the Bill and Melinda Gates' foundation to become the institutional holder possessing the most shares of FEMSA.
In July 2012, FEMSA announced that it had purchased Lácteos Santa Clara, one of the largest dairy bottlers in Mexico.
Subsidiaries
In 2013 the FEMSA group acquired an 80% holding in the Mexican arm of restaurant chain Gorditas Doña Tota for US$120 million, their interest being limited to operations within Mexico. Operations within the United States remain in the hands of the original business owners. The company operates as a subsidiary of Femsa Comercio S.A. de C.V. As of 2017 the company claims more than 200 restaurants in 60 Mexican cities and towns. Gorditas Doña Tota started in 1952 when Carlota Murillo of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas began selling gorditas on the street, from a cart on the sidewalk.
Tax suit
On May 29, 2020, FEMSA agreed to pay MXN $8.79 billion in back taxes. Walmart de México y Centroamérica agreed to a similar payment earlier in the same week.
