AB InBev is made in 2008 when Brazilian-Belgian brewer InBev purchased U.S. icon Anheuser Busch.
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SABMiller, based in London, said it “will review and respond as appropriate to any proposal which might be made”. “There can be no certainty that this approach will result in an offer or agreement”.
A merger would create a “super brewery” with nine of the world’s top 20 beers by volume, and annual sales of $55 billion.
For example Craft Brew Alliance, which makes Redhook, Widmer Brothers and Kona Brewing beers, is more than 30% owned by A-B InBev.
SABMiller shares rocketed by more than a fifth in value, while AB InBev jumped around eight percent.
You better believe regulators will be watching this deal closely, particularly in the U.S. Crain’s says that the two brewers control roughly 70 percent of the U.S. beer market.
A successful takeover would rank among the biggest corporate acquisitions in history, creating a company with a combined market capitalization of more than $275 billion. AB-InBev does not own brewing operations in Australia but has a variety of distribution and marketing agreements for its brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s. SABMiller’s brands are Grolsch, Peroni, Fosters, Miller, Meantime, Lech, Blue Moon and Castle. He rates AB InBev and SAB as “market-perform”.
“The real attraction is Africa, where AB InBev has no presence, as well as some add-ons in Asia and Latin America”, said Societe Generale beverage analyst Andrew Holland.
The industry has consolidated just as consumer tastes in beer are fragmenting, with the big brewers facing a growing challenge from craft beer.
The two have been seen as the end game for global beer consolidation because they are not controlled by a family foundation like Amsterdam-based Heineken or Denmark’s Carlsberg.
To what degree will this giant merger and other deals, some of which may impact beer drinkers’ relationships to specific brewers, impact perceptions of beer to where it becomes less of an item of personal passion or more of an item of personal passion?
SABMiller recently formed a Canadian subsidiary after ending a long partnership with Molson Coors – a combination of beer multinational makers headquartered in Montreal and Denver, Colo.
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The statements by the two companies came in the wake of recent events indicating that a deal is in the works, sending investors flocking to snatch up stock.
