Our History

Coca-Cola FEMSA expanded its presence in Latin America with the acquisitions of the ABASA, Los Volcanes and MONRESA franchises in Guatemala and Uruguay.

Coca-Cola FEMSA further strengthened its presence in Brazil through the acquisition of Vonpar, an important and strategic franchise in the south of the country.

We acquired 100% of Industria Brasileira de Bebidas S.A. (SPAIPA), the second largest private bottler in Brazil.

We purchased Companhia Fluminense de Refrigerantes, consolidating our leadership in Río de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Sao Paulo Brazil.

We merged the operations of Grupo Yoli and Coca-Cola FEMSA.

We merged the beverage business in Grupo Fomento Queretano, S.A.P.I. de C.V. and Coca-Cola FEMSA S.A.B. de C.V.

We purchased the Brisa bottled water business, including the brand and profitable assets, owned by Bavaria, a subsidiary of SABMiller.

By acquiring Refrigerantes Minas Gerais Ltda., REMIL, we expanded our presence in Brazil and the number of our clients and consumers grew substantially.

We constituted the FEMSA Foundation, an instrument for socially oriented investments that funds education, science, and technology for the preservation and sustainable use of water as well as promotion of a healthy community life.

We acquired control of the Brazilian brewing company Kaiser.

We opened IMER, a PET recycling plant with the largest capacity in Latin America and the first of its kind in Mexico.

We developed a Coca-Cola FEMSA mega distribution center in the "Puebla 2000" industrial park.

We bought Panamerican Beverages, Inc., Panamco, and the largest bottling operation in Latin America and one of the three largest bottlers of Coca-Cola beverages in the world. Thus, we became the leading bottling company of Coca-Cola products in Latin America and the second largest in the worldwide Coca-Cola system.

After 22 years, we closed the Monterrey Museum after deciding to concentrate our philanthropic efforts on projects that entailed a high social impact such as education, environment, cultural programs, and assisting the underprivileged.

We began operating FEMSA Logística as an independent company.

We associated with Amoco Oil Co. to create Amoxxo and operate our OXXO Express service centers.

To start globalization of Coca-Cola FEMSA, we purchased 51 percent of Coca-Cola Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We sought a partnership with The Coca-Cola Co. to accelerate the growth of our company Coca-Cola FEMSA. First, The Coca Cola Co. bought 30 percent of the Coca-Cola FEMSA stock, and then we placed 19 percent of the stock in the Mexican Stock Exchange, BMV, and in the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE.

We adjusted our graphic identity depicting the emperors Aztec rulers whose names we took for the merger of breweries and called it "Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma".

Once our debt was restructured, Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V., FEMSA, was constituted as the major subsidiary of VISA, where we grouped our breweries, with our packing, beverages, and retail companies.

We introduced the "Beer Drive" system for improved distribution of draft beer in consumer centers. For this operation we used water trucks and cooling tanks.

We launched the first Mexican light beer, Brisa, long before its time.

OXXO opened its first stores in Monterrey, Mexico.

We opened the Monterrey Museum inside the central building of the Cuauhtémoc Brewery. Its purpose was the dissemination of all types of art, especially painting and sculpture

As the group kept growing, two holding companies were created, VISA and ALFA. VISA assigned to Banca Serfín, Cervecería Cuauhtémoc and companies in its vertical development, basically packaging operations.

We redesigned the bottle bottom to unscrew the metal tops from quitapón bottles and called them opening bottles.

We introduced the quitapón bottle, with twist-off cap.

The department in Cervecería Cuauhtémoc in charge of supplying labels became Grafo Regia, an independent firm that gradually expanded its operation to include all sorts of flexible packaging.

We acquired a brewery in Tecate, Baja California and launched this small, regional brand all over Mexico, which became the first mexican canned beer.

We also launched the Transparámbar amber glass bottle, to prevent light from impairing the beer quality.

We dedicated the 9 hectares SCYF sports park, to conduct sports events.

On account of the impediments to import sheet steel to manufacture our metal bottle tops, we founded the steel mill Hojalata y Lámina, S.A., Hylsa, which in due time became one of the largest companies in Mexico, renown for the quality of its products and technological developments.

We created Almacenes y Silos, a company engaged in storing grains and other raw materials used by Cervecería Cuauhtémoc.

The original packaging department in Famosa, where corrugated cardboard boxes were made, became Titán, S.A., an independent company that has since expanded its product line to include all sorts of cartons.

On May 12 Valores Industriales S.A., VISA, was constituted as a holding company for all the group members: Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, Famosa, Titán, and Malta, to name a few.

We transformed the way beer is stored by replacing wood barrels with metal cylinders. This prevents carbon gas leaks and enables pasteurization, to supply an improved product.

We replaced wood bottle crates with cartons.

As a former department spinned off into a new company, Fábricas Monterrey S.A. de C.V., Famosa, started producing the beer caps in a facility across our plant, and soon diversified to produce metallic cans.

Although Monterrey was marginal to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, General Pablo A. González occupied the city on April 24 and seized our company until November.

By opening Vidriera Monterrey, we reinstated the supply of glass bottles.

As the first Mexican brewery to replace corks with metal caps, we expedited the bottling process and added consumer convenience.

Five enthusiastic entrepreneurs, Isaac Garza, José Calderón, José A. Muguerza, Francisco G. Sada, and Joseph M. Schnaider founded the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc brewery, at the time also known as Fábrica de Hielo y Cerveza Cuauhtémoc, at Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. The original workforce consisted of 70 operators, 2 clerks, the capital 150 thousand pesos.