Dutch brewer Heineken secured its position as a global brewer this morning after announcing a €5.3 billion acquisition of the beer operations of Femsa, the Mexican drinks and retail group behind the Sol and Dos Equis beer brands.

The Financial Times said the deal was important for Heineken as Femsa was considered it’s last chance to gain a foothold in Latin America.

Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg that the deal “rebalances our portfolio of businesses more towards emerging markets”.

Before dropping out of the running just before Christmas, Britain’s SABMiller was a favourite to win the auction for Femsa due to pre-existing large operations in Latin America, reported The Wall Street Journal.

This latest deal adds to the wave of consolidation in the global beer market. With large deals like this and the 2008 purchase of Anheuser-Busch Cos. by Brazilian-Belgian InBev NV for an estimated $52 billion, pressure is being put on smaller companies to find bigger homes, said The Financial Times.