During the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, folks everywhere will be partaking in the traditional start-of-summer activities: barbeques, beach parties and, of course, beer drinking. However, bankers and attorneys from Lazard, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and elsewhere may instead be hunkered down in conference rooms in St. Louis and Leuven, Belgium, chugging coffee as they work out the details of a $46 billion merger between two industry giants: Europe's InBev and America's Anheuser-Busch Inc.
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The world's second-biggest brewer by volume, InBev, reportedly is working on a $46 billion bid approach for its biggest American rival, the FT Alphaville blog said on Friday. The Web site cited sources as saying the approach was expected to be pitched at $65 a share, but that while extensive work had been carried out, InBev was "not about to push the button."
FT Alphaville even listed advisers for InBev from Lazard, J.P. Morgan, Banco Santander SA and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Anheuser-Busch is the remaining major independent brewer in the U.S. In the last few years, rivals Miller and Coors have partnered with foreigners. Miller was the first when it sold a stake to Anglo brewer SAB to form SABMiller plc. In 2005, Coors merged with Canadian brewer Molson to form Molson Coors Brewing Co. More recently, SABMiller and Molson Coors entered a joint venture to operate their U.S. assets. - Matthew Wurtzel
See Corporate Dealmaker: InBev's acquisitive CEO on leadership and talent retention
See Corporate Dealmaker: Building the world's biggest brewer
