Bill Gates Just Upped the Value of Heineken Shares

Bill Gates has purchased a 3.76% stake with $902 million in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV. Heineken Holding owns 50% of Heineken NV. The acquisition comes as part of plans to sustain, strengthen and extend his investment and business tentacles across sectors.

The billionaire founder of Microsoft bought 6.65 million shares in Heineken Holding in his individual capacity, and another 4.18 million shares through the trust of his philanthropic organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to reports made available by the Netherlands’ Financial Markets Authority (AFM), Gates bought 10.8 million shares on February 17, worth about $939.87 million. AFM also noted that the transaction happened the same day that Heineken’s major Mexican shareholder, Femsa, sold billions of euros worth of shares. 

How Bill Gates upped the value of Heineken shares

Gates purchased the shares from Mexico’s FEMSA, Heineken’s major shareholder, who is selling out of the brewing company. Femsa became a major shareholder of Heineken in 2010 when the Dutch group took over the Mexican company’s beer branch.

With Gates’s purchase, Femsa’s participation will temporarily decrease from almost 15 per cent to just over 8 per cent. Reports also say Heineken itself took the opportunity to buy back 1 billion euros worth of its own shares. The investment of the world’s billionaire in Heineken will not only boost the company shares but it could attract more investors to the organization.

Also, Gates’s acquisition will help the brand which recently increased its marketing spending, particularly on its premium products.

Other investments by Gates

Bloomberg reports that Gates invested in the online supermarket Picnic, and has an interest of approximately 1.3 per cent in fertilizer producer OCI, a company listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange.

Gates’s recent acquisition comes years after he bought an R7.1 billion stake in one of Mexico’s largest brewers, Femsa, in 2007.