Miller sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev in $100bn deal
AB InBev, whose takeover of SABMiller would be one of the largest mergers in corporate history, said it expected to achieve $1.4bn in annual savings four years after completion of the deal, projected for the second half of 2016.
AB InBev has also reached an agreement to sell SABMiller’s 58% stake in US joint venture Miller Coors as well as global rights to the Miller brand to the venture’s other shareholder, Denver-based Molson Coors, for $12bn.
The cost-savings target is lower, although it does come on top of the $1.05bn that SABMiller had already identified.
The merger will combine AB InBev’s Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Corona brands with SABMiller’s Peroni, Grolsch, and Pilsner Urquell and brew almost one third of the world’s beer, dwarfing rivals Heineken and Carlsberg.
Budweiser maker finalizes 7 billion bid for SABMiller after deal on Molson Coors venture: https://t.co/IjlVd2oSAA
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 11, 2015
Based on Tuesday’s closing share prices and current exchange rates, the offer is worth $106bn.
The takeover, which SABMiller’s board provisionally accepted last month, would be the largest of a British-based company and the fourth-biggest overall of any corporation.
It will be backed by a record $75bn loan.
AB InBev is No 1 in the US, Brazil, and Mexico, three of the top four markets in terms of profits.
Meanwhile, the Danish brewer Carlsberg, which has long been struggling in Russia, said it would take $1.4bn in charges and cut 2,000 jobs.
Carlsberg, the world’s fourth largest brewer, has long faced problems in Russia and Ukraine, from where it derives over a quarter of its operating profit, but the company is now also restructuring in China and Britain.
Carlsberg’s share price jumped as much as 8% as investors were relieved they did not have to wait until next year’s strategy review for the writedowns.
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