Mexican BEER Grupo Modelo Corona and more

Grupo Modelo (Corona, Estrella, Leon Negra, Modelo Especial, Montejo, Pacifico, Negra Modelo, and Victoria) is the largest BEER maker in Mexico and the 12th largest in the world! Grupo Modelo in the late 1990's was 50% owned by Anheuser Busch, the world's largest BEER producing company. It is the exclusive Importer of Anheuser Busch products (Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch etc) into Mexico. As of now, in 2009, this has changed much due to companies buying companies all around the World… BEER, as with ALL Industries, is not limited to country by country BUT a Global marketplace!

Cervecería Modelo, was founded in 1925 in Mexico City by Braulio Iriarte with the help of President Plutarco Elias Calles.
It came under the control of Pablo Díez Fernández who became it’s Director General in 1930 and majority stockholder in 1936. Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, also Spanish-born, succeeded Díez Fernández as Director General in 1971. Under his leadership, Modelo's share of the Mexican market grew from 39% in 1977 (holding only 1% of the market abroad for Mexican beers) to 45% in 1985. Cervecería Modelo was renamed Grupo Modelo in 1991. With the North American Free Trade Area and elimination of trade barriers including tariffs, Grupo Modelo decided to protect itself from an invasion of US beers into the Mexican market with an Anheuser Busch partnership. It sold 18% of the company in 1993 to them for $447 million. From 1989 Modelo was the exclusive distributor of AB's product in Mexico. The Company went public on the Stock Market in 1994 offering 13% of its shares on Mexico City's Exchange. Fernández Rodríguez's nephew, 31 year old Carlos Fernández González succeeded his Uncle as Director General of the Company in 1997. Barton Beers, Modelo's Chicago based Importer for the 24 states west of the Mississippi, is credited with increasing Corona's growth in the US by targeting students; many had sampled the beer during spring break at the Mexican resorts of Cancún, Cabo etc. Just as today, Barton's TV commercials featured attractive young people chilling out with bottles of Corona on sun-drenched tropical beaches fringed with palm trees. Corona's other US based Importer, Gambrinus Co of San Antonio TX, has targeted millions of Mexicans with Spanish language commercials linking the beer to sounds and images intended to inspire nostalgia for the mother country.

Grupo Modelo owns 640 plus distributors (183 independently owned), operates 33 companies with about 1,400 facilities (manufacturing metal cans, plastic caps, glass bottles and cardboard boxes). They own convenience stores under the names of: Modeloramas, Super Flash, Circle K, and Stores 12+12. Other subsidiaries are involved in the production of ice and machinery, the operation and maintenance of warehouses / distribution centers, Real Estate, a shipping fleet, and a soccer stadium in Torreón. Grupo Modelo has 80% of the World's Export market for Mexican beers while distributing it’s brands in 143 countries.