FEMSA

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FEMSA (Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V.) NYSE: FMX, BMV: FEMSA) is the largest beverage company in Mexico and Latin America. FEMSA originated as the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery in 1890, which, through debt management, was restructured as FEMSA in 1988. It is based in Monterrey, Mexico.

FEMSA purchased the Kaiser Brewery in 2006, renaming it FEMSA Cerveja Brasil. The company also has a 45.7% share of the world's second largest bottler of Coca Cola, Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V., and operates OXXO, the biggest convenience store chain in Latin America.

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[edit] Origins

FEMSA's roots can be traced back to the foundation of Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in 1890 by Isaac Garza Garza, Francisco Sada Muguerza, Jose Muguerza, and Jose Maria Schneider. Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc was near to bankruptcy when its founders backed Victoriano Huerta during the Mexican Revolution in 1910.

By 1936 the Garza and Sada families owned two interrelated groups, the Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc and the Vidriera Monterrey. In 1936 both families decided to reorganize their stock holdings through the creation of Valores Industriales S.A. (latter known as FEMSA) as a holding company to control both families' shares, especially Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc and Famosa.

VISA grew rapidly during the 1970s due in part to strong growth in the Mexican economy. In the early 1980s global oil prices fell dramatically which led to a severe recession in Mexico and thus significant losses for VISA. Already weakened by debt of more than $1 billion, VISA suffered further losses when the national government under President José López Portillo nationalized the Mexican banking sector. Prior to this step, VISA owned a 77% share in Banca Serfin.

In 1988, after restructuring the company's debt, FEMSA (Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V.), the main subsidiary of VISA, was constituted by Eugenio Garza Lagüera, bringing together the beer, packaging, soft-drink and retail companies.[1]

[edit] FEMSA Divisions

FEMSA is divided into five segments:

[edit] Coca-Cola FEMSA

FEMSA owns 45.7% of the world's second largest bottler of Coca Cola, Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A. de C.V. ("KOF"), which operates in 9 countries covering the metropolitan area of Mexico City, southeast Mexico, Central America and South America.

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. Specifically, 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 45.7% by FEMSA, 39.6% 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 most of Mexico (including Mexico City, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Puebla and Michoacan) 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, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. This represents 40% of the population of Latin America.

In 2003 the company distributed 1.8 billion unit cases of soft drinks. A unit case is 24 8 oz servings (roughly 5.678 liters). The company also distributes beer and bottled water in some of its territories.[2]

On December 19, 2006, Coca-Cola FEMSA announced their attempt to buy out Mexican juice producer Jugos Del Valle.

[edit] FEMSA Comercio

FEMSA Comercio operates OXXO, the biggest convenience store chain in Latin America, as well as other smaller convenience stores called “deposits”.

[edit] FEMSA Cerveza

FEMSA Cerveza owns Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, the second largest brewer in Mexico, just after Grupo Modelo, and produces some well-known Mexican beers like Tecate, Sol, Dos Equis, and Kloster.

Since January 2006 FEMSA have owned 68% of FEMSA Cerveja Brasil, a South American brewery 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 will retain 15% of the company along with a seat on the board.[3]

The company brews a range of lagers under the brand names Bavaria, Kaiser[4] and Sol. Other beers are Xingu, Palma Louca and Bavaria Pilsen.

In addition, FEMSA Cerveza produces glass bottles, aluminum cans and crown caps.

[edit] FEMSA Negocios Estratégicos

FEMSA Negocios Estratégicos is designed to drive the business units’ development through quality products and services such as refrigeration, distribution and information solutions, among others, it is divided into:

[edit] FEMSA Logística

FEMSA Logística is in charge of the distribution of all FEMSA products. FEMSA Logística functions through operational bases, relief bases and cross-docks, and warehouses that are strategically located throughout the country.

[edit] FEMSA Empaques

FEMSA Empaques is in charge of designing and creating the bottles, as well as labels, for Cervecería Cuauthémoc Moctezuma products as well as refrigerators, and other promotional products.FEMSA Empaques operates 5 production plants: Silice del Itsmo, S.A. de C.V. (SISA); Vendo de México, S.A. de C.V. (VENDO); Plásticos Técnicos Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V.; Grafo Regia, S.A. de C.V.; and Quimiproductos, S.A. de C.V.

Since 1995, José Antonio Fernández has been the Director General of FEMSA. In 2001, José Antonio Fernández Carvajal was elected as Chairman of the Board and of FEMSA.

FEMSA also owns a Cessna Citation X - XA-FMX and a Raytheon Hawker 800XP - XA-GLG.

[edit] Cascade Investments LLC

On December 20, 2007, Cascade Investments LLC, whose main partner is Bill Gates, announced it will invest 390 million dollars in FEMSA. FEMSA's President Jose Antonio Fernandez said in a statement about the news: "This type of decision on the part of large investment funds is a show of recognition and confidence in our company's performance,".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] FundingUniverse.com Company history
  2. ^ Coca-Cola FEMSA information FEMSA.com
  3. ^ Molson Coors Press release
  4. ^ Kaiser


[edit] External links