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AB InBev’s £79bn deal passes final hurdle
SABMiller’s shareholders have voted in favour of a £79 billion takeover by AB InBev following a crunch vote held today.
AB Inbev’s shareholders votes in Brussels earlier this week, with a final vote left to be taken by SABMiller shareholders today.
Rumblings that SABMiller shareholders could vote against the merger surfaced earlier this week, however the final vote ultimately saw more than 95% of shareholders vote in favour of the deal. A minimum approval rate of 75% was needed.
SABMiller’s two largest shareholders, cigarette maker Altria Group and the Santo Domingo family of Colombia, did not vote as both parties, who together control about 40% of the shares, had already pledged their support for the deal, making the vote of confidence in the deal even more convincing.
SABMiller shareholders accepted AB InBev’s cash offer of £45 ($59) a share, an increase from its earlier price of £44 ($58), valuing the London-listed firm at around £79 billion ($104bn).
The world’s two largest brewers agreed the multi billion merger in November, later announcing that the resulting beer giant would be called Newco, and later Newbelco.
However in a statement released today, AB InBev said that in fact the company will retain the name Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, (ABInBev) with the SABMiller name expected to ultimately disappear completely.
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This was the final hurdle for AB InBev in securing its takeover of SABMiller, the biggest in British corporate history, having already offloaded many of its brands, and SAB Miller’s, to appease competition laws in Europe, China and the US.
AB InBev’s Grolsch and Peroni have already been sold to Japanese brewer Asahi to ease competition concerns in the EU, while SABMiller’s Eastern European assets, including Pilsner Urquell, will also be sold. Those assets had been up for sale for around $5 billion.
Following the merger, AB InBev will become the fifth biggest consumer product companies in the world by revenue, bigger than Coca Cola, and will dominate the global beer market.
Even after offloading numerous brands to secure regulatory approval, the company will control around one-third of the world’s beer sales by volume. Its brands will include Budweiser, Corona, Hoegaarden, Leffe and Stella Artois, with the company’s annual revenue expected to be around $55 billion.
The company now expects the deal to complete on 10 October, following the delisting of SABMiller’s shares in London and Johannesburg.