The Mexican brewer and soft drinks bottler, Femsa, is considering combining its beer and soft drink operations in various Latin American markets in a bid to enhance competitivity, as it moves towards completion of its acquisition of the Latin American soft drinks group, Panamco.
The US$2.7 billion Panamco deal will make Femsa the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America. Panamco has operations in Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.
“Integration is a real possibility in some of the markets where we operate currently and where we hope to operate in the future once the acquisition of Panamco is completed,” said Femsa’s chairman, Jose Antonio Fernandez. “This could represent an attractive opportunity of growth as well as alternative ways of generating revenues and profits for Femsa in the future.”
