8:53am Tuesday 15th July 2008
By Stuart Arnold
SHAREHOLDERS of Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch will receive $70 (£36.30) a share after the firm agreed a $52bn (£27bn) takeover bid from Stella Artois maker Inbev.
The deal will create the world's biggest brewer, which is to be called Anheuser- Busch InBev, leapfrogging the current brewing number one firm, Peroni-maker SABMiller.
August Busch IV, Anheuser Busch's president and chief executive, said the tie-up would create certain value'' for the shareholders of the firm, as well as enhancing global market access'' for Budweiser.
It follows a month-long pursuit of Missouri-based Anheuser by Belgian company InBev, whose initial $47bn (£24.4bn) bid was rejected as too low.
InBev's chief executive, Carlos Brito, has been named as the chief executive of the new company.
He said: We are extremely excited about the opportunities that this combination will create for consumers worldwide.'' Cost savings of $1.5bn (£770m) have already been identified as a result of the combination.
Meanwhile, Budweiser's headquarters will remain in St Louis, Missouri, while none of Anheuser's US breweries will be closed.
InBev, which also makes the Becks and Staropramen brands, is currently the world's second-largest beer-maker behind SABMiller.
Anheuser-Busch is by far the largest brewer in the US, with more than 48 per cent of the market share.
The takeover is the latest round of consolidation in the brewing industry, which has recently been facing challenges from rising raw material costs and changing drinking habits.
Foster's and Newcastle Brown Ale brewer Scottish and Newcastle fell into the hands of Carlsberg and Heineken this year.
The Anheuser brewing name dates back to 1860 when Eberhard Anheuser acquired the Bavarian brewery and renamed it E Anheuser and Co.
His son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, joined the company in 1864.
It was eventually renamed Anheuser-Busch.
The company survived prohibition in the US by selling products ranging from icecream to root beer.
InBev saw its beer volumes in its main Western Europe region decrease by 4.9 per cent last year.
Underlying profits from the region were down 7.5 per cent to 771m euro (£580m).
But the company enjoyed strong sales in booming markets such as Eastern Europe where volumes were 13.7 per cent up.
The market in Latin America saw growth of nearly ten per cent.
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