|
Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V. (Femsa) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Femsa Cerveza S.A. de C.V. (Femsa Cerveza) has acquired a controlling stake in Brazil's Cervejarias Kaiser from the Molson Coors Brewing Company.
Femsa Cerveza acquired ownership of 68% of the equity of Kaiser for US$ 68 million, using cash on hand. Molson Coors retains 15% ownership, and Heineken will maintain its current 17% stake. Jose Antonio Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of Femsa, commented: "This is a unique opportunity for Femsa Cerveza as the potential of the Brazilian beer market is significant. This is also a challenge as there is much to be done to return the business to a path of profitable growth. "The success of Coca-Cola Femsa in turning around its São Paulo operations, combined with our expertise in competing in the Mexican beer market for over a century, give us confidence that we will be successful in this endeavor." Femsa Cerveza will acquire Kaiser subject to existing financial debt, which at closing totaled approximately US$ 60 million, and certain contingent liabilities and claims. As part of the transaction, Femsa Cerveza has received certain indemnity provisions from Molson Coors. Given its new shareholder structure, Kaiser will be managed by a seven- member Board of Directors, with Femsa electing five directors, including the Chairman, and Molson Coors and Heineken each electing one director. Femsa will exercise full management control, while the current Kaiser team will remain in charge of operations, reinforced by Femsa personnel in key areas such as marketing, sales and brewing. Femsa will now participate in the Brazilian beer market with a focus on returning Kaiser to profitability, leveraging its experience of many years of successful beverage operations in the region. Femsa is the leading beverage company in Latin America. It controls an integrated beverage platform that comprises Coca-Cola Femsa, the largest Coca- Cola bottler in the region; Femsa Cerveza, one of the leading brewers in Mexico and important beer exporter to the United States; and Oxxo, the largest and fastest-growing convenience store chain in Mexico with approximately 4,000 stores. Molson Coors "Last year, we committed to a strategic review of our Brazilian business. We made good on that commitment, and this transaction is the result," said Leo Kiely, President and CEO of Molson Coors. "The transaction allows us to focus on our biggest markets and to continue to deliver the cost synergies and other benefits related to the Molson Coors merger. It also represents a winning proposition for Kaiser in Brazil, as it further aligns branding, production, selling and distribution operations." Femsa owns the largest distributor of Kaiser products in Brazil. Kiely added, "We believe this partnership with Femsa will strengthen Kaiser's overall position in the Brazilian market. By maintaining a minority ownership interest and the possibility of launching Coors Light in Brazil, we expect to continue to participate in the upside we see in the Kaiser business and the Brazilian beer market." Kaiser financial debt totaled approximately US$ 60 million at closing. While Molson Coors believes that all significant contingencies have been disclosed as part of the sale process and adequately reserved for on the Kaiser financial statements, resolution of contingencies and claims above reserved or otherwise disclosed amounts could, under some circumstances, result in additional liabilities for Molson Coors because of transaction-related indemnity provisions. Molson Coors intends to report Kaiser results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2005 as discontinued operations in its financial statements. Following this transaction, Molson Coors intends to report its interest in Kaiser in its financial statements using cost-method accounting. Molson Coors Brewing Company is the fifth-largest brewer in the world. It sells its products in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Molson Coors is the leading brewer in Canada, the second-largest in the U.K., and the third-largest in the U.S. The company's brands include Coors Light, Molson Canadian, Molson Dry, Carling, Coors and Keystone. Femsa - www.femsa.com Molson Coors Brewing Company - www.molsoncoors.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.