Dive Brief:
- Mexican retailer and bottling company Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA) has agreed to sell its Solistica logistics business unit for $4,060 million Mexican pesos, or just over $200 million, the company announced last week.
- Grupo Traxión, S.A.B. de C.V. (Traxión), a mobility and logistics company based in Mexico, is buying the unit. The deal includes FEMSA’s transportation management operations in Mexico, as well as its contract logistics operations in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
- Selling these logistics assets helps FEMSA — parent of the Oxxo convenience store brand — focus more on its retail operations, especially in the U.S., where it recently acquired Delek US Holdings’ 249 c-stores across Texas, Arkansas and New Mexico for $385 million.
Dive Insight:
Last February, FEMSA’s leadership revealed its FEMSA Forward plan, in which the company would prioritize its retail, beverage and digital businesses. Part of this plan included bringing these parts of its business into the U.S., which the company is full-steam ahead on. Its acquisition of Delek’s retail sites closed on Oct. 1, Constantino Spas, CEO of FEMSA’s Americas and Mobility division, said in an interview with C-Store Dive during the 2024 NACS Show.
Divesting part of its logistics segment fits within the FEMSA Forward strategy as well, the company emphasized in its announcement. According to the plan, logistics only represented 10% of the company’s proportional revenue in fiscal 2022, which was the lowest of any of the company’s specified business units. Retail, comparatively, was the highest at 58%.
The asset FEMSA has agreed to sell, Solistica, is part of the company’s strategic business division and is dedicated to providing third-party logistics solutions across the organization and to FEMSA’s customers, according to its website. Solistica operates in seven countries across Latin America and serves over 3,500 clients through 126 facilities.
The deal to sell Solistica to Traxión is expected to close in the next few months, according to the announcement.
