Anheuser-Busch accepts US$50 billion bid from InBev

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-14  |     ONLINE EDITION

US brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc accepted a sweetened US$50 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV, creating the world's largest beer maker.

InBev, which makes Stella Artois and Beck's, agreed to pay US$70 per share for the maker of Budweiser, up from its original unsolicited bid of US$65 per share, both companies said on Monday. The sweetened offer marked a 27 percent premium to Anheuser's record-high stock price in October 2002.

This deal, which is widely expected to gain regulatory approval, would be the largest in the industry and the third-largest ever foreign takeover of a US company.

The combined company will have about US$36.4 billion in annual net sales and brew about a quarter of the world's beer.

The beer industry is undergoing a wave of consolidation, with Scottish & Newcastle agreeing to be broken up by Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV, and SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co agreeing to merge their US operations.

Based on Anheuser's 713 million shares outstanding as of March 31, the deal values the company at US$50 billion. The companies pegged the price tag of the deal at US$52 billion, but did not elaborate on what that value reflected.

InBev's Chief Executive Carlos Brito will be CEO of the combined company, which will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev. Anheuser will get two seats on the new company's board.

Anheuser's home town of St. Louis, Missouri, will be the headquarters for the North American region and the global home of the flagship Budweiser brand. The companies said all of Anheuser US breweries would remain open.

The deal brings an amicable resolution to a month-long saga that was becoming increasingly hostile as the companies traded lawsuits and InBev set the stage to replace Anheuser's board.

InBev had proposed its own slate of nominees for the board of directors that included Adolphus Busch IV, an uncle of Anheuser-Busch's current chief executive.