Potential buyers include Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. and Carlsberg A/S, the analyst said in a note on November 30, after the first reports that ABI intends to sell the brands had surfaced.
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Any sale will be conditional on the completion of the merger between the pair, which is expected to create the world’s largest brewer, with annual revenue of £42bn.
AB InBev said on Thursday it was also looking to sell Meantime Brewing Company, the London-based craft brewer that SABMiller announced it was buying only in May. Heineken is seen as a less likely suitor as it already has a dominant position in Europe.
The Budweiser maker announced last month that it had agreed to sell SAB’s 58-percent stake in the North American joint venture MillerCoors to Molson Coors for $12 billion (£8 billion).
Analysts speculate AB InBev may simply deem Grolsch and Peroni surplus to requirements given that, in Stella Artois and Beck’s, it already has European lagers that it is marketing internationally.
‘These beers are loved by consumers and we are very proud of them.
SAB’s chief executive, Alan Clark, added: “Until the change of control, we will continue to invest in growing these great beers”.
However, Heineken would remain the leader in all three markets, with shares of 29.4% in Italy, 38.6% in the Netherlands and 27.5% in Britain.
A sale of Meantime would bring to a close a brief spell under SAB’s ownership, with the brewery only bought by the group in May. No deal has been struck and a sale isn’t certain, the person said at the time.
With SABMiller, AB InBev is buying into countries such as Colombia and Peru and crucially, Africa, while markets such as the United States are weakening as drinkers shun mainstream lagers in favor of craft brews and cocktails.
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Its acquisition by SAB, the world’s second-biggest beer company, In mid-May, was poorly-received by some fans of the brand who viewed the deal as distancing Meantime from its craft beer roots.
