LONDON, July 27 SABMiller has asked employees to pause the process of integrating its operations with those of Anheuser-Busch InBev as the brewer’s board weighs its sweetened takeover offer, according to sources familiar with the matter.
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The beer behemoth based in Belgium raised its offer of cash to £45 or $59.10 per share from its previous offer of £44 to appease numerous shareholders of SABMiller based in London, who have been watching the value of the offer drop with sterling.
SABMiller announced that there would be a board meeting on Tuesday this week to discuss the new terms, while AB Inbev have intimated that this will be their final offer.
However, a SABMiller shareholder, Aberdeen Asset Management, released a statement on Tuesday, claiming the revised deal was unacceptable because it undervalued the company, favoring Altria and Santo Domingo family of Colombia.
But other SABMiller shareholders, such as New York-based investment-management firm Twin Capital Management LLC, said they want to the deal to go through.
In contrast, it believes the cash offer is not high enough – and is angry that Altria and Bevco, which have already given “irrevocable undertakings” to back the buyout, get to use their 40 per cent shareholding to support a deal that hands them a much larger windfall.
Activist investors, such as Elliott Management, TCI and Davidson Kempner, have voiced discontent.
That value doesn’t include a discount for the fact that the stock issued in the deal can’t be traded for five years, AB InBev said.
But AB InBev shares, which are denominated in euros, have risen 3.2 percent since then, and the pound plunged against the European currency after the referendum on Britain’s exit from the EU. “Ab InBev confirms that this offer is final and that it will not further increase the Cash Consideration or the cash element or the exchange ratio”, the statement reads. Originally, SABMiller investors would have received about a 33% premium. AB InBev also raised the cash component of that offer by 88 pence-about $1.15-per share.
A week ago, AB InBev and SABMiller received USA regulatory approval for their $107 billion merger, which moved what would be the biggest-ever consumer products deal, creating a brewer with almost 30% of the global market, closer to concluding. It said it will consult with shareholders and meet to review the revised offer, after which it will make an announcement.
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SABMiller has asked Centerview Partners to provide additional financial advice alongside its existing advisers. Regulators in China have yet to offer their view.
