Mexican Antitrust Commission Approves FEMSA's Strategic Transaction with Heineken

MONTERREY, Mexico, March 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA") (NYSE: FMX; BMV: FEMSAUBD) announces that the Comision Federal de Competencia, Mexico's anti-trust regulator, has approved without reservation the strategic exchange of 100% of the shares of the beer operations owned by FEMSA for an interest in Heineken (HEIA.NA; HEIN.AS; HEIO.NA; HEIO.AS), under the terms described in FEMSA's disclosure of January 11, 2010.  Hart-Scott-Rodino approval has also been granted by the relevant trade authorities in the United States.  The transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2010, is subject to customary regulatory approvals in other relevant jurisdictions, as well as approval by the FEMSA and Heineken shareholders.

FEMSA is the leading beverage company in Latin America. It controls an integrated beverage platform that comprises Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the region; FEMSA Cerveza, one of the leading brewers in Mexico, with presence in Brazil, and an important beer exporter to the United States and other countries; and Oxxo, the largest and fastest growing convenience store chain in Mexico with over 7,300 stores.

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SOURCE Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V.