InBev raises bid, makes Anheuser-Busch an offer it can't refuse

Posted Jul 11th 2008 9:22AM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: Deals, Products and Services, Marketing and Advertising, Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD)

InBev, the Belgian brewer, today hiked its unsolicited bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD) by a whopping $5 a share, making it all but certain that the King of Beers will sell -- unless members of the board of directors have spent too much time sampling their own product.

The $50 billion offer represents a substantial premium over where Anheuser-Busch has recently traded. InBev clearly wants to avoid the hostile takeover it's threatened. It has vowed to keep its U.S. operations based in the company's hometown of St. Louis. The average drinker of Budweiser probably will not notice a difference in the taste of their favorite brew, which may or may not be a good thing depending on one's beer snobbery.

Shareholders, including Warren Buffett, are ready to head to the exits. The stock, which is up 17% this year, is trading up in pre-market trading. The company has little choice but to take the bid. No other logical buyers exist and I would be surprised if private equity players would be willing to top InBev's offer.

About the only potential losers in this acquisition may be media companies.

Advertising salesmen are probably all holding their breaths wondering whether the new owners of Anheuser-Busch will turn off the money spigot that has made Budweiser one of the most iconic brands in the world. Imagine a weekend baseball game without a Bud commercial? You have to wonder whether InBev will be as enthused to spend big bucks on the Super Bowl as well.

Politicians may lament that Anheuser-Busch is no longer U.S. owned. Then again neither is Miller. BloggingStocks writer Carol Vinzant did an exhaustive piece yesterday listing about two dozen American icons owned abroad.

I guess beer drinkers will have to stick to craft brewers if they want to support U.S. beer makers. That may be short-sighted though. Thanks to free trade, the world has become more global and there is nothing we can do to change it.

Tags: acquisitions, beer, belgium, Bud, featured, Inbev, inthenews, mergers, SAb MILLER, SabMiller

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-11-2008 @ 10:08AM

zbadblonde said...

NO MORE BUDWEISER FOR ME !!!! I sure hope everybody that drinks bud like me takes the same stance. Budweiser may be for sale but I'm not. Lets stand together and wake these people up.

7-11-2008 @ 10:28AM

Jerry said...

We will just start another beer company with the same recipe. We can call it buba. Hey, don't laugh, I would drink it everyday. Or maybe we could call it America and then see what other country wants to buy it. These people underestmate the American Beer drinkers feelings for buying only Truely American Beer or our need to NOT buy pasey foriegn beers!

7-11-2008 @ 10:38AM

Kent said...

It did not take a genious to predict that InBev would increase their original offer upwards as I understand it now to $70 per share. Net after capital gains tax does put the shareholder in a profitable position. I predicted the take-over would fail couple of weeks ago as I did not think InBev would up the offer. Now that they did, I am not so sure now. If they succeed in this take-over venture, I wonder if InBev plans an IPO and start to list their shares on the U.S. stock exchange by spinning off their U.S. operations? I also wonder if the shareholders in turn will plow back some of the proceeds from the sale into the new listing, if they do spin it off? A great test case study on corporate financial planning.

7-11-2008 @ 11:18AM

Timmy said...

Looks like this is end for Anheuser-Busch

Too Bad -- what's -- next changing the design of the American Flag -- no stars just a picture of the globe.