The UK’s competition watchdog has cleared Heineken’s acquisition of Mexican brewer FEMSA Cerveza ahead of a shareholder vote on the deal at Heineken headquarters.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday (20 April) that it has no concerns that the deal would weaken competition in the UK beer market.
A green flag for the deal in the UK comes as Heineken prepares to ask shareholders to approve the acquisition, at an annual general meeting to be held in the Netherlands tomorrow (22 April).
FEMSA Cerveza’s Sol and Dos Equis beers are currently distributed in the UK by Molson Coors, while its Bohemia brand is handled by Inspirit Marketing.
Heineken already supplies a quarter of all lager in the UK by volume.
A small number of unnamed parties complained to the OFT that the deal could hurt the market by expanding Heineken’s portfolio. But, the watchdog rejected the complaints.
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