€88bn InBev bid to shake up global brewing

The world’s two biggest brewers yesterday agreed to create a company making almost one third of the world’s beer after SABMiller accepted an offer worth more than $100bn from larger rival Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The SABMiller board said it would give its blessing to a fifth proposal from its sole larger rival. If it goes through, the deal would rank in the top five mergers in corporate history and be the largest takeover of a UK company.

After repeated rejections to its lower proposals, AB InBev said on Tuesday it was willing to pay £44 in cash per SABMiller share, with an alternative for cash and shares set at a discount and limited to 41% of SABMiller shares.