Constellation Brands Inc., the brewer of Corona beer for U.S. consumers, has agreed to build a brewery in southeastern Mexico, according to Mexican officials, almost two years after the nationalist government ordered the closure of a nearly completed $1.4 billion plant near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The company and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are expected to announce the construction of the new brewery as early as this week, with an investment of about $1.3 billion, said a person familiar with the plans.
The brewery’s relocation culminates protracted negotiations between top executives of the third-largest U.S. beer producer, senior Mexican officials and local authorities in Mexico’s impoverished southeast region, which is home to Mr. López Obrador and a stronghold of the ruling Morena party.
In early 2020, Constellation was forced by the government to close its nearly finished brewery in the border city of Mexicali after residents voted against the project. Brewery opponents said it would use too much water, hurting local farmers, which the company denied.