Heineken Brasil is the Brazilian subsidiary of Dutch brewer

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

. The company produces beer and soft drink under the brand names

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

Brasil Kirin Brasil Kirin S.A. was a Brazilian brewery and drink company, the second largest in the country after AmBev. Founded in 1939 as Schincariol, the company was purchased in 2011 by the Kirin Company. In 2017, Kirin sold the company to Heineken N.V ...

, Glacial, Cintra, Baden Baden, Devassa, Eisenbahn, and

Amstel The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam, to which the rive ...

. Founded in 2010, the company expanded its operations in 2017 with the acquisition of Brazilian subsidiary of Kirin. It is the second largest brewer in Brazil.

History

Introduction to the Brazilian market

Heineken arrived in Brazil in 1990, through a partnership with Kaiser, when the Brazilian brewery signed a production and distribution licensing agreement with the supervision of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Purchase of Femsa

In 2010,

acquired

Femsa Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V., doing business as FEMSA, is a Mexican multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. It operates the largest independent Coca-Cola bottling group in the world and the la ...

, maker of the Kaiser brand, which enabled it to extend its presence in the Brazilian market, with the utilization of the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

system in the country. The purchase was valued at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

3.8 billion (approximately

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5.5 billion). If debts and pensions are taken into account, the value of the operation reached €5.3 billion (approximately US$7.6 billion).

Acquisition of Brasil Kirin

In February 2017,

announced an agreement with

Kirin Company is a Japanese beer and beverage holding company. It is known for brands such as Kirin Beer, Kirin Lemon, Mets, and Gogo no Kōcha. The predecessor of the company, the Japan Brewery Company, was founded in Yokohama in 1885 by William Henry Tal ...

to purchase its Brazilian subsidiary, Brasil Kirin. The deal was worth €664 million (equivalent to US$704 million). In May 2017, the

Administrative Council for Economic Defense The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (in Portuguese, ''Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica'', often referred to as Cade or CADE) is Brazil's national competition regulator and an agency of the government of Brazil. Its state ...

(CADE) approved the sale of Brasil Kirin to Heineken, and with this, the latter became the second largest Brazilian brewer.

Expansion

In 2020, Heineken Brazil invested R$865 million (approximately US$160 million) in the expansion of the

Ponta Grossa Ponta Grossa () is a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil. The estimated population is 355,336 according to official data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and it is the 4th most populous city in Paraná ( ...

plant. After backing up from building a new industrial unit in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, the group announced in late 2021 the expansion of the production capacity of the Ponta Grossa plant.

Products

Heineken Brazil has in its product line: Beers: Schin, Malta (Pilsen, Malzbier, Munich and Zero Alcohol), Glacial, Cintra, Baden Baden, Devassa and Eisenbahn. Soft Drinks: Schin (citrus, grape, lemon, orange, '' guaraná'', cola),

Itubaína Itubaína is the first Brazilian carbonated soft drink produced by Schincariol which has been produced and distributed nationally since 1954. It's been known by the tutti-frutti special flavor. The name is a tribute to the city of Itu The ...

, Maçã, Tônica, and Fibz Kirin (soda with added fiber)

cola Cola is a Carbonation, carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus essential oil, oils, and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked br ...

. No sugar soft drinks: Guaraná Zero and Cola Zero. Fruit Juice: Skinka and Fruthos. Water: Schincariol

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

( sparkling and non-carbonated). Energy drinks: Ecco! "K"

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

Controversies

In 2021, Heineken Brazil gave up on building a plant in

Pedro Leopoldo Pedro Leopoldo is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. The city is located in the Greater Belo Horizonte region. According to the most recent census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the population of th ...

, in the Metropolitan Region of

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

. The project, estimated to cost R$1.8 billion (US$353 million), was barred by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

(ICMBio). The industrial plant would be located near the Lapa Vermelha IV

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

, which is part of the

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

of the Carste de Lagoa Santa Environmental Protection Area, a region where the skull of

Luzia Woman Luzia Woman () is the name for an Upper Paleolithic period skeleton of a Paleo-Indians, Paleo-Indian woman who was found in a cave in Brazil. The 11,500-year-old skeleton was found in a cave in the Lapa Vermelha archeological site in Pedro Leopol ...

was found, one of the oldest

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. This area also comprises a

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

that if used could generate impacts on the complexes of caves and

grottoes Grottoes may refer to: *The plural form of Grotto (disambiguation) * Grottoes, Virginia, a town named for the nearby cave system Grand Caverns {{Disambig ...

, which, according to the institute, would face the risk of being buried.

References

External links

Official website

Heineken Brazil
on

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{{Portal bar, Brazil, Companies, Drink Heineken subsidiaries Breweries in Brazil Brazilian subsidiaries of foreign companies Brazilian companies established in 2010