FEMSA’s €2.5 Billion Sale of Heineken Group Shares

Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel to CB Equity LLP, a subsidiary of longtime client Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA), in connection with the sale, through an accelerated book-building process, of 22,485,000 shares of Heineken N.V. and 7.7 million shares of Heineken Holding N.V., together representing 5.2 percent of the combined interest in the Heineken Group.

The transaction was launched on September 18, 2017, and closed on September 21, 2017, raising gross proceeds of approximately €2.5 billion. The Heineken Group shares were offered to institutional investors outside of Mexico.

FEMSA is a leading Mexican company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world; in the retail industry through FEMSA Comercio, operating OXXO, the largest and fastest-growing chain of small-format stores in Latin America; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second-largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world’s leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries.