Ending more than a century and a half of independence, St. Louis-based
Anheuser-Busch agreed to a $70 per-share offer from InBev. The Leuven,
Belgium-based maker of Stella Artois and Beck's won its target over
after adding $5 to the $65 per share offer it made on June 11.
The
new entity, Anheuser-Busch InBev, would have a market value of more
than $80 billion, and operations across developing and developed
markets including the world's five largest beer consumers -- the U.S.,
China, Brazil, Russia and Germany. The companies expect cost synergies
of at least $1.5 billion annually by 2011.
The merged company
will make St. Louis the headquarters for the North American region and
the home of Anheuser's flagship Budweiser brand. In a further nod to
the political sensitivities surrounding the deal, InBev agreed that all
of Anheuser-Busch's U.S. breweries will remain open. The target is the
overwhelming leader in the U.S. with a 48.5% market share, and the
combined company will generate 40% of revenue in the U.S.
Monday's
deal ends a month of hostilities. Following Anheuser's rejection of
InBev's $46.3 billion offer, both companies filed lawsuits against the
other. InBev sought to replace Anheuser-Busch's entire 13-member board
with its own hand-picked slate -- including a member of the Busch family
supportive of the deal. In fighting off InBev, Anheuser-Busch alleged
its European peer lied about its financing commitments and gave false
and misleading statements about how it planned to operate is North
American division. Anheuser-Busch also unveiled an aggressive $1
billion cost-cutting program. -
Cheryl Meyer and George WhiteSee full story on
TheDeal.com
