Mexico's brewer Femsa, is looking at combining its beer and soft drink operations in various Latin American markets to gain a competitive edge.

Inside three months Femsa, formally called Fomento Economico Mexicano and brewer of Sol and Tecate beers, hopes to complete its previously announced $2.7 billion purchase of Panamerican Beverages Inc (Panamco).

Femsa's purchase of Panamco via its subsidiary Coca-Cola Femsa, which operates in Mexico and Argentina, will give the Monterrey-based company a growth platform for Femsa's beer division in the markets of Panamco.

"Integration is a real possibility in some of the markets where we operate currently and where we hope to operate in the future once ther acquisition of Panamco is completed," Femsa's chairman Jose Antonio Fernandez said in a recent annual report.

25 March, 2003