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Bill Gates has bought 3.76 per cent stake in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV, although the billionaire founder of Microsoft has previously said he was “not a big beer drinker.”
A filing by the Netherlands’ Financial Markets Authority said the shares were purchased on February 17. Heineken Holding owns the controlling stake in brewer Heineken NV, reports Reuters.
Gates purchased the shares from Mexico’s FEMSA, which is selling out of the brewing company, reports Reuters.
A separate filing also dated February 17 showed FEMSA sold all 18 million shares it held in Heineken Holding. Gates purchased 10.8 million shares, worth $939.87 million at current market prices, triggering a disclosure requirement under Dutch stock market rules.
Heineken itself took the opportunity to buy back 1 billion euros worth of its own shares, according to an NL Times report.
As a result, Femsa’s participation will temporarily decrease from almost 15 per cent to just over 8 per cent. Femsa has indicated that it will sell the entire interest in a period of two to three years.
In a 2018 “Ask Me Anything” chat session on Reddit, Gates said he was “not a big beer drinker.”
“When I end up at something like a baseball game, I drink light beer to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers. Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers.”
Heineken is not the only Dutch company in which Gates has invested money. According to Bloomberg, the wealthy businessman has also invested in online supermarket Picnic, and has an interest of approximately 1.3 per cent in fertiliser producer OCI, which is listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world. The foundation was put together in 2000, has nearly 1,800 employees and has spent nearly $80 billion on numerous projects and initiatives.
