Nonetheless, in a statement issued at 1pm London time, the brewer’s board “excluding the directors nominated by Altria Group Inc”.had turned down the proposal as it “still very substantially undervalues SABMiller, its unique and unmatched footprint, and its standalone prospects”.
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However, continual resistance could result in a major takeover war, which AB InBev is not shying away from.
In addition, it said that Altria Group, which owns 27% of SABMiller and has three representatives on the board, has publicly stated that it supports AB InBev’s proposal and “urges SABMiller’s board to engage promptly and constructively with AB InBev to agree on the terms of a recommended offer”.
In his U.S. conference call, Mr Brito appealed to SABMiller’s minority shareholders to voice their view to the board, which could be interpreted as a “hostile lite” approach (despite ABInBev having stressed its desire to gain the recommendation from the SABMiller board).
An SAB spokesman said the company noted AB InBev’s announcement, which it said “contains nothing new”. In a few sense, that scale of value creation is indicative that AB InBev (or, rather, its predecessors) is in the habit of buying undervalued assets. On Wednesday, the world’s largest brewer sweetened its bid for SABMiller, offering a little more than 68 billion pounds ($104 billion) for the No. 2 firm in the industry.
Many acquisitions destroy shareholders’ equity, but AB InBev has an exceptional record in this area – the hand behind this juggernaut is Brazilian investment group 3G Capital, wizards at acquiring and improving companies in the branded food and drinks sector. AB InBev set out details of its $64.30 per share offer in a statement on Wednesday.
SABMiller’s rejection of the plan “lacks credibility” because the price of £42.15 a share in cash that most stockholders would receive is 44 per cent above where SABMiller was trading before speculation of a deal, Belgium-based AB InBev said in a statement Thursday. Altria has announced public support for the proposal but BevCo has not.
In proposing the takeover, Anheuser-Busch InBev says it wants to create “the first truly global beer company”.
For a while now, Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev, the world’s largest brewer has tried to woo its biggest rival South Africa’s SABMiller, into a merger.
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Big stakes are at play here – a merger would combine the owners of over 400 beer brands including Budweiser, Miller, Stella Artois, Corona and Grolsch. SABMiller could do this by divesting its stake in MillerCoors, the Chicago-based joint venture created in 2007 between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co., analysts say.
