#47 Transnational Takeover Alert: Heineken acquires Femsa
Amsterdam-based brewer Heineken announced that it will acquire the beer operations of Mexican Femsa through an all-share transaction. The hope is not only to strengthen some of Femsa’s brands in Central and Latin American markets, but also to build out the premium market for Heineken’s own brand. And yes, as usual, there’s talk of cost-saving synergies.
November 24, 2013 @ 11:17 am
Think Global act local, that is exactly the strategy from Heineken and in my opinion they do it right. Heineken has a big powerful brand called Heineken and in the last years they bought small and big companies all over the world to expand their company.
For example Asia is the fastest growing market globally for beer. So Heineken is spending another €3.2 billion to gain control over the Tiger beer brand as part of a strategy to significantly expand its operations in Asia. With this strategy they come into the market.
With the strategy to buy breweries all over the world they bypass with the local advertisements the Power Distance Index and the differences between a masculinity and femininity country.
On the top of the Country Heineken has its famous brand Heineken with the same advertisement in every country but with the local brands they play with the requirements of the local population.
On the example of Austria, the big local brands like Puntigamer, Gösser, Zipfer, Wieselburger and Edelweiß are part of the Heineken Company. All of these brands have tailor made advertisements for the Austrian population regarding to their requirements. Austria is a very masculinity country with a score of 79 from 100. This fact reflects the advertisements of the local Austrian brands.
To sum up my statement you can say that Heineken safe a lot of time with market research because when they buy a company they have also their advertisements which are tailor made for the population.
September 17, 2018 @ 1:59 am
Heineken International has been has had a presence in Asia since it entered into a joint venture with Fraser and Neave in 1931 to found Malayan Breweries Limited (MBL) to brew Tiger Beer. The entity was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries in 1989 and ultimately became Heineken Asia Pacific (HAP) in 2013 brewing, among other, two highly popular premium beer brands: Heineken and Tiger.
With respect to Asia, it appears that HAP has made the most of its early mover advantage in the Asian premium beer market. In 2016, the President of HAP told reporters of The Saigon Times that Asia was the growth engine and future for Heineken and described Vietnam as one of the most dynamic and exciting markets for the company. This is backed up by the fact that the Heineken and Tiger brands together capture roughly 85% of the Vietnam premium beer market.
To enhance its market attractiveness factor, HAP has emphasized Tiger Beer’s Asian identify and has targeted the rising affluence of young Asian consumers. This is bolstered by its transition from the decades old Tiger Beer slogan “It’s Time for a Tiger” to a campaign that is using the slogan “Uncage”, hinting at the young Asians freedom to find their own way in life. Further alignment with the Asian identity is reflected in the move to return to the use of a “g” in the Tiger logo that looks more like an 8 since Chinese cultures consider 8 to be a lucky number.
It is clear that Heineken Asia Pacific is making the most of its decades of experience in the Asian market and is continuing to gain market share. One has to wonder if HAP will change the “g” in the Tiger logo to a 9 for the Vietnam market since 9 is considered a lucky number in Vietnam.
One has to wonder what aspect of the Asian identity would be needed for HAP to create the corporate mindset to fuel its Asian growth engine with breweries in Japan and Korea.