Amsterdam, 18 February 2015 - Heineken N.V. ('HEINEKEN') today announces that it has completed the divestment of its Mexican packaging business EMPAQUE to Crown Holdings Inc. ('Crown') after the recent receipt of the required regulatory approvals from Mexico's Federal Competition Commission. As previously disclosed, the total enterprise value1 of the transaction amounts to approximately USD1.225bn (EUR956m based on hedged rate).

HEINEKEN will deploy up to EUR750 million of the proceeds for a share buyback programme.

The purpose of the programme is to return the majority of the proceeds from the EMPAQUE disposal to the shareholders whilst maintaining a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility.

The programme will be executed periodically by intermediaries via open market purchases and is expected to be completed in 2015. The programme will be executed within the limitations of the existing authority granted by the HEINEKEN Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 24 April 2014, and, if granted, of the authority to be proposed to the HEINEKEN AGM on 23 April 2015. HEINEKEN will not purchase shares held by Heineken Holding N.V. HEINEKEN may at any time suspend or terminate this programme prior to completion, and it will provide weekly updates on the progress of the programme on its website www.theHEINEKENcompany.com.

Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of the Executive Board/CEO of Heineken N.V. commented: "EMPAQUE was acquired as part of the FEMSA Cerveza acquisition, which was mainly paid for in shares. I am pleased that with the share buyback programme we will be able to return the majority of the proceeds from the EMPAQUE disposal to our shareholders."

In 2014 EMPAQUE generated gross revenues of EUR 515m, mostly intercompany, and an EBITDA (beia) of EUR 113m. The 2014 EBIT (Beia) was EUR 91m. EMPAQUE's financial results to date have been included in the "Head Office" reporting segment.

The sale of EMPAQUE is now expected to result in a post-tax book gain of approximately €375m, which will be reported as an exceptional item.

¹) The total enterprise value consists of the sum of the equity purchase price plus net debt and net debt equivalents assumed by Crown.