Anheuser-Busch (A-B), has agreed a takeover by the Belgium-based brewer InBev for $52 billion, after InBev raised its previous offer by $5 a share to $70 a share. The deal will create the world’s largest beer company.
A-B, the brewers of Budweiser, who have a 48% share of the US market, agreed to the deal at a board meeting on Sunday. The new company will be known as Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Carlos Brito, the InBev chief executive, will be chief executive of the expanded company.
The InBev board of directors will continue in place for the new company, and will be joined by the A-B president and chief executive August Busch IV, and one other current or former A-B director.
In a nod to US concerns about foreign ownership of an iconic American brand, the A-B headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri will remain as the headquarters of the new company’s North American region, and the “global home of the flagship Budweiser brand”. The company has also given assurances that all US breweries will remain open.
The deal, which should be completed by the end of the year, is being financed with $45 billion of debt and InBev estimates that the merging of the companies will yield cost savings of at least $1.5 billion annually by 2011.
On a pro-forma basis for 2007, the combined company would have generated global volumes of 460 million hectolitres, revenues of $36.4 billion (€26.6 billion) and EBITDA of $10.7 billion (€7.8 billion).
Carlos Brito, InBev chief executive, said: “We are extremely excited about the opportunities that this combination will create for consumers worldwide, as well as our shareholders, employees, business partners and wholesalers. Together, Anheuser-Busch and InBev will be able to accomplish much more than each can on its own. We have been successful..
Read entire article