Mumbai: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has bought a three per cent stake in Mexican brewer Femsa for $392 million.

Gates acquired 10.81 million of Femsa's New York-traded American Depository Shares, equivalent to three per cent of its equity, through his investment fund Cascade Investment LLC, according to filing with US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gates reported the stake acquisition, which does not require regulatory approval, in a passive filing with the SEC.

According to the filing, each ADS represents 10 BD units, each consisting of one series B share, two series D-B shares and two series D-L shares.

The filing showed that Gates owns a 1.2 per cent stake in Femsa's Series B shares, a five per cent stake in series D-B shares, and a five per cent stake in series D-L shares.

Femsa (Fomento Economico Mexicano), based in the northern city of Monterrey, is Mexico's second-largest brewer and the world's second largest Coke bottler.

Femsa has three product divisions, including its soft drinks unit, Coca-Cola Femsa and the beer subsidiary. It also has a retail operation, which runs Latin America's largest corner store chain, known as Oxxo.

Femsa brewery also has the distinction of helping to spark industrialisation in Mexico way back in 1890.

Bill and Melinda Gates' charitable foundation is also the largest institutional holder in Coca-Cola Femsa.

Shares in Femsa, which produces the lagers Sol, Dos Equis, Bohemia, Tecate and Carta Blanca, jumped 7.5 per cent on Wall Street and its local stock climbed 7.43 per cent to 39.45 pesos.