Mexican beer brewer Grupo Modelo said on Nov. 28 that it plans to invest about $754 million to build a brewing and bottling plant in the city of Apan in the central state of Hidalgo. The company, a unit of Anheuser-Busch InBev, currently operates seven plants in Mexico.
The new plant should be operational in about 14 to 16 months, said Mauricio Leyva, Grupo Modelo’s CEO and AB InBev’s president for Middle Americas. The facility will have an initial annual capacity of 12 million hectoliters, equivalent to the production of 9.25 million 355-ml. bottles per day. The plant will eventually ramp up to double that capacity.
Grupo Modelo makes Corona, Modelo and Pacifico beer brands, among others. Anheuser-Busch acquired Grupo Modelo in 2013; as part of the deal, it sold a brewery and the U.S. rights to Constellation Brands.