USA: Mexico's Femsa, Latin America's top bottler and brewer, on July 30 filed with U.S. regulators to sell $345 million in American Depositary Shares to finance its planned repurchase of a stake in its beer unit, under the Reuters report. Femsa in a registration filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it plans to use the proceeds to repay a bridge loan that will be used for acquiring about 30 percent in FEMSA Cerveza.

Femsa, also known as Fomento Economico Mexicano, in May announced the end of a 10-year partnership with Belgium's Interbrew. Under the accord, Femsa will buy back a 30 percent stake Interbrew holds in Femsa's beer unit, which makes Tecate, Sol and Dos Equis brands, for $1.245 billion.

The Mexicans had always planned to finance the deal by using cash flows and local bond placements as well as through issuing shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the Mexican bourse. In the deal with Interbrew, Femsa will also take back control of its U.S. exports, which had been part controlled by Interbrew.

Femsa recently said Dutch brewer Heineken would be the sole U.S. importer and seller of Femsa's brews once the split is finalized later this year.

Femsa had long complained that its partnership with Interbrew had hampered its beer sales in the United States, with its beers not receiving equal marketing attention as another partner in a joint venture with Interbrew.

04 August, 2004