Bill Gates bought Femsa’s stake in Heineken despite not being a “big beer drinker”

Bill Gates bought the Mexican company Femsa’s 3.76% stake in the Dutch beverage giant Heineken Holding, owner of the beer brand of the same name and the second largest beer group in the world.

Although the billionaire founder of Microsoft announced a long time ago that he is not a “big beer drinker”, paid 883 million euros (939.87 million USD) -at current market prices- for 18 million shares that Femsa had in keep company each is estimated at 10.8 million euros.

As revealed in a presentation by the Dutch regulator, the Authority for the Dutch Financial Markets (AFM), the shares were transferred on February 17. According to your record, Gates bought 6.65 million shares individually and another 4.18 million through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a foundation created by a billionaire and his ex-wife.

As sources from that sector explained to the agency Reuters, the entrepreneur acquired a stake in the beer group on the same day that Femsa launched the sale of shares and bonds linked to the shares worth 3.7 billion euros for his involvement in Heineken.

Mexican Coca-Cola bottler and Oxxo supermarket operator announced a few days ago that he plans to sell his share in Heinekenafter the strategic review he conducted in his business.

As reported by the Mexican edition of the magazine ForbesFemsa seeks to divest itself of operations that are no longer part of its strategic focus. Among the companies from which he plans to exit in whole or in part are the logistics company Solistica; company dedicated to the supply of restaurants and catering Jetro Cash & Carry, and a platform dedicated to equipment, material handling and comprehensive Alpunto services.

While, the market was surprised by the purchase of Heineken shares by Bill Gates. In a chat session”Ask me anything,” where a businessman was about to answer “anything” in 2018 on the social network Reddit, Gates said he’s not a “big beer drinker.”

“When I finish an activity or watch a baseball game, I drink light beer to keep up with the other drinkers. Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers“, he replied to the user’s question about his favorite beer.