By Fabiana Negrin Ochoa
Heineken is buying beverage and retail businesses from a Costa Rican company in a $3.2 billion deal to grow its presence in Central America.
The Dutch brewer said Monday that it will acquire the assets from Florida Ice and Farm Company, a company with operations across Central America, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
"The transaction will strengthen Heineken's position across attractive Central American growth markets which have large and expanding profit pools," Heineken said in a release.
Under the terms of the deal, Heineken will pay cash consideration of about $3.2 billion for equity stakes in several businesses, expanding its portfolio to include Costa Rica's national beer Imperial and a major soft-drink business with its own brands and a PepsiCo bottling licence.
It will acquire 75% of Distribuidora La Florida--Fifco's beverages business in Costa Rica--that it doesn't already own, plus full ownership of Heineken Panama and Fifco's beyond beer business in Mexico, as well as a stake in a Nicaraguan drinks company.
Heineken expects the transaction, which is set to close in the first half of next year, to be immediately operating-margin accretive.
Net debt is projected to increase by 3.2 billion euros, or about $3.78 billion. The company said it remains committed to returning to its long-term target of a pro forma net debt-to-Ebitda ratio of below 2.5X.
Write to Fabiana Negrin Ochoa at fabiana.negrinochoa@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2025 21:30 ET (01:30 GMT)
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