Mexico's FEMSA launches second €3 billion sale of Heineken shares

Mexican bottler FEMSA on Tuesday offered €3.3 billion (£2.84bn) worth of its shares in Heineken, the second large offering in its divestment of holdings in the Dutch brewer.

The shares are equivalent to a stake of about 5.9 per cent in Grupo Heineken, the Mexican company said in a statement.

Heineken said it purchased €333 million in shares from FEMSA in Tuesday’s offering.

FEMSA announced in February an offering of around €3bn worth of common shares in Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V, after saying it would sell its 14 per cent stake in the European company over the next three years.

Filings later showed FEMSA had sold some of the shares. Heineken bought around €1bn of the shares across both of its entities, while American tycoon Bill Gates bought 10.8 million shares - or a 3.76 per cent stake - in the Dutch beverage giant from FEMSA.

FEMSA also announced Tuesday a simultaneous offer of up to €250m of bonds exchangeable for shares of the Dutch brewer due in 2026.

The new bonds "will be consolidated and form a single series" with the ones issued in February for around €500m at a rate of 2.625 per cent and maturing within two years, it said.

Heineken on Tuesday added that upon completion of the purchase FEMSA will no longer hold any shares in Heineken N.V and Heineken Holding N.V. other than the Heineken Holding N.V. shares underlying the exchangeable bond.

Heineken will fund the share purchase from existing cash resources and credit facilities.