“We believe this combination will generate significant growth opportunities and create enhanced value to the benefit of all stakeholders”, AB InBev Chief Executive Officer Carlos Brito said in the statement.
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Note Bevco and Altria’s share of SABMiller is 40.45%, which leaves a few room for other SABMiller shareholders to elect for the PSA. What’s also made us special is our deep understanding of navigating different local markets, catering for local tastes and helping build the communities around us. Since then, they had been negotiating the details of the merger.
SABMiller’s Zimbabwean affiliate Delta Corp plans to cut costs and reduce the price of a few products after reporting a decline in beer and soft drink sales, the company said on Wednesday.
SABMiller’s board of directors is recommending that shareholders accept the deal, and the directors have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the transaction.
In order to pull off the biggest beer merger in history, Anheuser-Busch InBev was always going to have pay a price.
Jan du Plessis, chairman of SABMiller that the AB InBev’s offer represents an attractive premium and cash return for its shareholders. That would allow them to avoid a huge tax bill from the sale of their holdings.
AB InBev expects to achieve at least $US1.4 billion in run-rate synergies a year by the end of the fourth year once the deal is completed.
The update comes almost a month after SABMiller finally accepted a buyout offer from Budweiser brewer Anheuser Busch InBev, a move that came after several rejections. It will be three times larger than Heineken, its nearest competitor, the research firm Euromonitor worldwide estimates.
Today, SABMiller-which has a secondary listing on Africa’s largest stock exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-is the second largest company on the JSE by market capitalization. SABMiller will sell 58 percent of its American joint brewery MillerCoors to help clear the way for the takeover.
Both brewers, yesterday, in a joint release said the transaction would be actualized through the acquisition of SABMiller by a special objective vehicle, Newco, to be formed for the goal of the transaction.
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Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Molson Coors will acquire full ownership of the Miller portfolio outside of the US and retain the rights to all of the brands in the MillerCoors portfolio for the USA market, including Redd’s and imported brands such as Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell.
