AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Beer producer Heineken said it had reached an agreement to buy Mexican brewer Femsa for $7.6 billion, a price low enough to surprise one market analyst.
"We were expecting a deal north of $10 billion. The way they structured it, this is creating more value," Marco Gulpers, a beverage market analyst told The New York Times.
The deal for Femsa's brewing unit plants Heineken's feet firmly in Latin America. Femsa, which had also been pursued by SABMiller, makes Dos Equis and Tecate and owns and operates a Latin American convenience store chain.
"It's a transformational deal for Heineken, Gulpers said.
Heineken said it would issue 86 million shares to purchase Femsa, after which Femsa will control 20 percent of Heineken Group.
Femsa currently controls 43 percent of the Mexican beer market, the Times reported Monday.
